Springtime Sunshine

What a difference the sun makes! Since moving from the Pacific Northwest (where it rains 9 months of the year) to San Antonio, I can't believe how much better I feel, and how much better life looks when the sun is shining. Spring in South Texas is absolutely gorgeous. Vibrant green colors everywhere, and wildflowers blooming along the roadside. Yesterday as we were driving back from Houston we saw fields of Blue Bonnets along with other crimson, yellow, white and coral colored blooms. And I can't believe how much more I enjoy riding my bike when it is warm and sunny compared to when it is cool and cloudy. I feel stronger. I ride faster. The sunshine is absolutely invigorating.

I can't even begin to imagine what it would be like to go through life in the dark. I suppose that if you were born blind like the man in John 9 it might not weigh on you quite as heavily as if you lost your sight after having it. Nevertheless, living in the darkness all the time would have to be a terrible burden to bear.

Whether it's sunshine versus clouds or sight versus blindness, light makes all the difference. The same is true spiritually speaking. Just as Jesus gave sight to the man born blind, he came to give us light as well. He said: "While I am in the world, I am the light of the world" (vs. 5). People who try to make it in life apart from Jesus are just as oppressed by their spiritual darkness as was the man born blind, whether they realize it or not. The darkness of sin, greed, hatred, selfishness, guilt, and fear hangs like a pall over their lives.

There are days when we all feel that burden. They are those days when we try to go our own way and turn our back of God. They are those days when we believe the devil's lie that God cannot or will not forgive us for our sins. They are those day when we are too busy to pray or read God's Word and instead focus only on life's hurts, disappointments, and losses. On those days our souls are overtaken by the spiritual darkness that is all around us because of sin.

Those are the days when me most need the Light of the World to penetrate our hearts, minds and souls. The reality is that there is no such thing as a cloudy day spiritually speaking. The Son is always shining. Any clouds that cover the brightness of his love are of our own making. So if your world seems a little gloomy today, let Jesus clear up the spiritual darkness. How he chooses to do it may seem a little strange. I imagine the blind man wondered what was happening when he heard Jesus spit in the dirt and then felt Him rub that moist mud on his eyes. But the result was overwhelmingly wonderful. So let Jesus be your Light today!