Jesus Likes Bright Lamps - Day 20

Jesus said, “Is a lamp brought in to be put under a bushel basket, or under the bed, and not on the lamp stand?” (Mark 4:21)
When I lived in Maine I used to really struggle with only about 8 hours of light in the winter. SAD—seasonal affective disorder. One of the ways that I countered with winter/darkness/cloudy/doldrums was to turn on every light in the house. Yes, I know that this was not stewardship-friendly, but it did help brighten my mood a bit. During my last year there I had a friend give me a bank of lamps that I sat in front of every morning, and that was very helpful.
There are many shadows out there. There can be much darkness. The creeping doldrums can happen to us all. And that is the reason that Jesus is asking us to a lamp, a bright burning lamp of love and care and faith and decency and kindness, a lamp that we do not hide, do not bury, do not apologize for, do not keep for ourselves.
The world needs our lamp. The church needs our lamp. Our friends and family need our lamp. So, we are called to shine.
But remember: no lamp works unless it is plugged in. Same is true for us. We cannot be the lamp we can be unless we are plugged into our source, our juice, our electricity. And that is Jesus.
How do we plug in? By praying. By asking for it. By reading scripture. By being in worship. By sharing fellowship. None of this is rocket science. None of this should surprise you.
What is surprising is that we know how to get plugged in, but we don’t do it. And then we have no light to share.
So, get plugged in. Get yourself on the lamp stand so that others can see. Beat back all SAD of the soul. For your sake do this. For others as well.