...does anyone have a light ?

"it is better to light just one little candle,
than to stumble in the dark..."

the first line of a popular song from my youth...
probably a paraphrase of the quote
from Eleanor Roosevelt....
"It is better to light a candle than to curse the darkness"
[also attributed to a Chinese proverb...]

we see a lot of candles at this time of year,
and as a symbol of home, hospitality and hope...
they burn bright...

but there is also a lot of "cursing "...
not to mention the gathering "darkness"....

Mother Teresa said,"It is better to do good, than to fight evil..."
at first glance, that appears an oxymoron, of sorts...
since for many, "fighting evil" is "doing good"...
but as I've been discovering, the effort to "fight", even righteous anger,
is an avenue "in", for the enemy of the light...

Lucifer, the "light bearer", who fell from Heaven for his greed and hubris,
should be a "cautionary tale".... but we are not listening...
we live in a world of "feelings"... and want to "feel good" about things...
ourselves, our lives, our attitudes, our path...

and that's when he gets in...
we look to the light, give Him our lives, with their dark and mouldy secrets...
but still want to do our daily walk, alone...because we feel "OK"...
not that this a conscious choice, we just think we're OK on our own,
and that's when it begins...the little fears, insecurities, doubts...they creep in,
make us "feel bad" and steal our peace...our light, as it were...

to live in luxury, means to have no material needs unmet....
"lux" is "light", in Latin..."lux eterna" [light eternal]... so, by extrapolation,
to live in "luxury", is to live "in the light"....
does this mean that we'll have everything we want ?
no, but we'll have all we need...

the light will shine on us, keeping out the evils that dwell in the darkness...
but where there is light, there are shadows...
so we must claim the victory over the darkness if in the light is where we want to be...
does this mean that the darkness will never try to "eclipse" the light ?

on the contrary, it is a constant battle, as long as we "fight"...
but once we realize that the battle has already been won,
that we have become mere "re-enactors", pawns in the struggle...
staging the same fight, again and again, to no avail...
then, finally, that battle is over...
because Jesus has won the victory for us, once and for all...
we only have to claim it, and task with it no more...

when we choose to be re-enactors, we are divorcing ourselves from the victory,
and putting ourselves in harm's way...
this is not a smart choice...
this is "cursing the darkness"...

so, light those candles, keep them lit...
fear not the circling gloom, it can not enter the light to harm you...
it can only hurt you when you choose to leave the light...
so stay in the light, and do good...

as you do, the circle of light will get bigger
and soon, there will be no room for darkness....
leaving the light, to fight evil, is not your job,
and, besides, that fight's been won...