light
In 1992, poet and songwriter, Leonard Cohen wrote a song entitled, “Anthem” from his album, “The Future.” There are a few lines that offer the message of hope in a dark world. “There is a crack, a crack in everything, that’s how the light gets in.” Louise Penny used a portion of those lines for the title of her best-selling book, “How the Light Gets In.”
The word “light” has two meanings derived first from the Latin, “lux” and the Germanic root “not heavy laden”. In the Latin derivative, light is luminous, lucid and illuminating. Even Lucifer means “bearer of light.” On the other hand, the Germanic refers to make the load lighter.
In our every day language we hear references to the word “light” in a variety of ways. “It’s getting light out” as we talk about rising at dawn to welcome the new day. At our meetings, we might ask someone to “shed some light on the subject” or ask them to show us the “light at the end of the tunnel.” Speaking figuratively, we might light into someone by attacking them fiercely or to get them moving quickly. On the other hand, we might suggest that the boss “lighten up” by making light of the situation.
Regardless of our worldly references to “light”, the bible has many references to the word light, and the first one is from the passage from Genesis:
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness. God called the light “day,” and the darkness he called “night.” And there was evening, and there was morning—the first day. Genesis 1: 1-5
In Ephesians 5: 7-14, we are referred to as Children of Light who are to expose the darkness and to follow God’s example. Matthew 5:14-16, Jesus tells the disciples, “you are the light of the world… people light a lamp and neither do people put it under bushel.” We are to live as lights to those who are living in darkness. Let’s let our light shine into someone’s life today!