My days are full. Full of wonderful things. Full of purpose, meaning, and inspiration. I live in the most beautiful place, I’m involved in a family ministry, I have a new wonderful marriage and my life is amazingly beautifully full. But right now, in the middle of all the fullness and purpose, I find myself staring at the puffy clouds outside my window wondering why I’m here. It’s a thought that surprises me because I feel like I should already know the answer to this question. I grab my journal, the grey one with the squirrel on the cover, because writing things out helps me make sense of what’s in my head. Scribbling the question and all the possible answers that come to my mind, I look down at my list. It’s pretty comprehensive, a little lengthy, encompassing everything from bringing glory to God to doing laundry and making dinner.

Opening my Bible, because I know that it’s the only source I can trust to give me the truth on this subject, I run into Jesus talking: “You are the light of the world” (Matthew 5:14). Hmm. I love when my questions get answered so bluntly. This was the topic the kids studied in Sunday school two days ago. Apparently, between tackling the other things on my to-do list, I’d forgotten why I was here. I may have even put my little light under a bushel somewhere so I could do more productive things, like getting the thank-you cards from our wedding sent out, grocery shopping, spending time with my little sisters, making dinner, cleaning the bathroom and feeding the horses. These are all important tasks for sure, especially the ones that involve making connections with people. But how I do them makes all the difference. I need to be careful that my days aren’t just full of getting stuff done, accomplishing things so that I can cross them off my list, and check them as completed on my schedule.

Light is miraculous. It is the absence of darkness, it is bright, it represents good and it is warm. This is the important part. As I go about the things that God has filled my life with - working with kids at our ranch, grocery shopping, laundry, spending time with family and meeting strangers - am I beaming?

Let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven. -Matthew 5:16

My light isn’t for me, it’s to give glory to God. The activities in my day should reflect the love of Jesus so that OTHERS can see it and feel God's love!

Sometimes, we get carried away with WHAT we’re doing in life and lose focus on HOW we’re doing it. The world is in desperate need of light. Real light. Light that isn’t afraid of darkness, doesn’t stand and preach at the door of an uncomfortable situation and wait for the circumstance to change before it goes in. We need light that takes any opportunity, any small window or crack and pours in, flooding away the darkness. Light is translucent. I need to be translucent. I need to be real with the darkness in me and let the light in those areas first so that I can go into dark places with others. I need my headlamp to be bright so we don’t both get lost in the dark.

It’s time to be the light; time to let our little lights shine.

The smallest acts don’t go unrewarded. You were meant to glow. Let’s make our days full of light, love and warmth. Let’s run into the darkness and illuminate the truth to the world around us. You are the light of the world. You are here to shine, and consequently, to bring glory to God. It doesn’t matter where God has placed you in life - whether you’re the student, the mom with three kids in the grocery cart or the lady making all the Pumpkin Spice Lattes at Starbucks - God has placed you there for a purpose. So, never feel like a simple smile isn’t enough. The people that you meet need the light you have so God can shine through you into their darkness.