Just A Little Light

Today I am having what I call a "grey day."  

It's hard to put into words what it feels like for me, so assigning it a color is the best I can do by way of description.  The fact that it's actually grey and cloudy outside today seems fitting. 

There's probably a lot of good explanations for why I'm feeling down today, but none of them really matter, in the end.  I'm trying to practice just feeling my feelings, and not passing judgment on them, or myself for feeling them.  

The way I see it, you can explain your feelings away, figure out all the intellectual reasons why you're feeling them... or you can just feel them, and let that be enough for the moment.  There will be time for analysis later, for sure.  

Here's the thing:  feelings come and go---they aren't forever.  You are not defined by a feeling.  

You might be feeling grey today, but that doesn't mean that you have to feel that way tomorrow.  It also doesn't mean that what light you have within you is extinguished, quite the contrary.  

I relistened to a song by Ryan O'Neal the other day that I've probably cited in some form or another elsewhere.  After I heard it, I jotted down just a snatch of the lyrics from the song, and today they are resonating with me something fierce.  

 

But the sweetest thing I've ever heard
Is that I don't have to have the answers, 
Just a little light to call my own...
Though it pales in comparison
To the overarching shadows, 
A spark of light can reignite the sun
And swallow darkness whole. 

Sometimes we don't have the answers we would like to have about why we feel the way we feel or why the world seems to be working (or not) around us, and that's okay, at least for now. 

I've learned that the answers to those hard questions have a way of finding us when we are ready to hear them.  

In the meantime, the very best we can do is to follow Jesus' advice to his followers about shining their light in the middle of the overarching shadows:  

"Let your light shine before everyone so that they may see your good deeds, and glorify God because of it..."

That little spark of light can make all the difference in the world for you and everyone around you.  The world might seem a little grey for you right now, but it won't stay that way if you refuse to let the darkness win.  

May it be so for you today and every day from this day, and may the grace and peace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you now and always. Amen.