Friday, July 24, 2015

There’s No Escaping the “Son”
By Jeannine Sawall

“O Lord, you are my lamp. The Lord lights up my darkness…”

Once, while laying on my beach chair, I was enjoying the warm weather, the crash of the waves and a good book. I was doing my best to stay in the shade of my beach umbrella. I had enjoyed just a little too much sun the previous day and some shade was in order if I didn’t want to end up with more sun burn  than sun tan

As I lay there reading, slowly but surely, the sun would creep around and soon I’d find myself laying in the very sunlight I was trying to avoid. I would have to get up, move my chair back into the shade and settle in again. It wasn’t long before the sunlight would invade my spot and I would be up and moving my chair back into the shade again. This went on the entire afternoon. There was no escaping the sun. 

This little dance between my desired shade and the sun reminded me how often I do a similar dance with Jesus. Sometimes I find myself being comfortable in the shade of “small” sins. In those moments, the Lord moves in to illuminate those shady areas I need to deal with. It doesn’t matter how comfortable I might feel in the shade, the Son keeps moving in to drive out the darkness. There may be times I feel I want a little space to call my own - - do my own thing - - but when I allow Jesus to work in my life, inevitably the warmth of the Son shining down moves me to embrace the light and, instead of moving back into the darkness, I look up and want to bask in the Sonlight!  

I’m so thankful Jesus does not allow the shady areas of our lives to remain in darkness. He constantly desires to share His light with us and make His presence known. It just doesn’t matter how many times we may move away or try stay out of the “Sonlight”…there’s just no escaping the Son! 

GOING DEEPER:
1.  Is there an area in your life where you are trying to avoid the Son? If so, allow Him to shine in your life and remove the darkness.
2.  Have you thanked Jesus lately for bringing the comfort, warmth and illumination of His Sonlight in your life recently? If not, stop and thank Him right now. 

FURTHER READING:

Jeannine is a wife and mother of four active boys. She works in the property management business. Jeannine serves with the Oakwood Café and is actively involved in ministry to those walking through grief.