Shine Bright

The choice in how we live life is ours: living color or black and white.

Herein is my latest quandary.  It is January and I still have my Christmas lights up in my work cubicle and the unavoidable task of putting them away is upon me.  However, this season before I put them away allow me to share a few things I learned from them.

Don’t jump to conclusions. In December, I decided to bring a string of seldom used Christmas lights into work from home.  So, I asked around to get the OK and then hung them up.  Then after the fact someone mentioned that I needed to go online and make sure this was not against company policy.  Frustrated, my first reaction was to take them down because my ill-conceived perception was that they either could be a fire hazard or considered offensive. Neither was the case, so up they remained.

   

Look on the bright side. This past month has been busy and full of uncertainty with the business climate and potential layoffs looming nationwide.  So, I just wanted to cheer myself up and put up bright lights. It gave me comfort, but I couldn’t put my finger on it why.  Then it dawned on me, after my 7 year old daughter died fourteen years ago she had left her Christmas lights up in her bedroom.  We left them that way for a long time, I believe just as reminder she used to live there.  Consequently, sometimes toward the end of the day in the last month or so, I would turn off the room lights and bask in the glow and flash of the bright lights and cry happy tears.

Remembering is good.  It is a firm belief of mine that is good to reflect on positive things that happened to us, like I did in the preceding paragraph. It is not good however to stay stuck, but rather to take a good memory with you instead.  Kind of like a folded note in your back pocket you can unfold whenever needed to remind you that all is not bad in the world. 

Continue to shine. Keep in mind, your light must keep flashing even when it’s dark.  When you do shine bright it will brighten up the room, like fireworks do to the sky on the Fourth of July. Matthew 5:16 says, “Let your let so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.”

J.J. Watt, an outstanding defensive NFL player once said, you can’t get today back.  What I believe he meant was don’t be dim in your effort; shine bright in whatever you do.

When it comes to telling others about Jesus, better to shine bright, than to be a dull annoyance.

Swavel.