Living in the Light

Welcome back after a Christmas break! The celebration of Christmas with family and friends is a joy we can hold in our hearts long after the day has come and gone. Indeed, it is my wish that we could carry the love and peace of Christmas in our hearts all throughout the year.  



This gift is for all when we remember the true reason for the season. God sent us His Son to show His great love for us, and to give us hope for today and all of our tomorrows. When we focus on this truth, God will live in our hearts and His peace will carry us throughout our days ahead.

My friend Mary DeMuth @ Living Uncaged.com has a wonderful idea for going into the new year. She asked us to pray for God to give us a word or a picture to guide us through the coming year. This year God has given her a picture from which her hope for the upcoming year is springing. You can read about this here.

Our personal challenge is to pray that God will give us direction through a word or picture for our new year, and for me, I already see the light. And it is His Light.

Light is my word for this year! It is my image and my guiding force. It became clear to me through repeated acknowledgements. First through an article I read about how light is so much a part of the celebrations of many faiths, and then through song after song on the radio as I pondered about light as the guiding force of my destiny.

You see, God’s light shines in us, and we are to shine for Him so that others will see our light and know Him. I finally realize that this is the work He has been doing through me. I sing for Him, and I let my light shine for others to feel the joy I share. I write so others will know of His love and the hope He brings, and in this way God's light shines through me to offer hope to those who are searching.

We are beings of light. This is who we are. We are energy and thought. Yes, we are flesh and bone, but it is the spirit within us that guides us on our way through this life, and our spirit is light. It is through our spirit that we connect with people and to the world around us. And through our spirit, we feel God inside of us as He lives in us, helping us find our way through this life.

Sunlight is powerful! Without this light, our species would not exist. In fact, all life on earth would cease without sunlight. The sun helps to grow our food and fodder for the animals that graze. The sun grows life under the oceans and on the land creating oxygen for us to breathe. Light is essential to life on earth. This fact we know to be certain.

For me, personally, I look to God’s Light for my inner strength. By knowing Him through relationship and His influence on my thoughts, words and actions, I feel the strength of His guiding force in my life. I am open to it. Through faith and perspective and belief I have come to know my maker as my companion as I travel the bumpy roads of existence here on earth. He lifts me up, He shows me the way I should go. And when I err, He patiently waits for me to find my way back to the pathway I should be walking.

So my focus this year will center on light; God’s Light, my light, the light of life and the light of hope. This will be my beacon, my guiding force for the year ahead and indeed for my life. God is Light, God is good, and His constant presence in my life reassures me of His love for me. 

Let God be the Light of your life. Let Him lead you to find what your guiding word or image will be for your year ahead. I pray you will know His love in your heart and in your life, and through relationship with Him you will be blessed with knowing His peace.