This Little Light

Sometimes you can plan an event to the last detail, and it doesn’t turn out how you want. We were so excited for our spring open house this last weekend, but the weather had different plans for us! Around 1:00 Friday afternoon, our electricity went out due to all the high winds in Nashville. One minute our sweet customers were shopping and listening to music, the next minute the lights were out and they worried I was going to start singing. In typical Wreath Stand fashion, we still had fun! Customers used their phones as flashlights, and Rachel and I walked around with a candle. We learned that fun could still be had minus electricity. (We prefer electricity, though!)

As we walked around the store with our candle and set up little areas with small battery lights, it reminded me of how one little light can fill up a whole room, bringing warmth to it. And so it is with our lives. We think we don’t have much to say, think we don’t have much influence. But one little light…

Everyone pauses for reflection when someone they know passes. In the routine of life, it’s normal to pause, reflect, encourage, and pray, but we usually return to normal. On some rare occasions, God allows a young one to be taken from us. Something that is so out of the norm that we are completely shook. 

In many of these cases, especially this one to me, I think God wants us to see the faith and character of this precious person who was tragically whisked away from us. We often want to direct questions to the circumstances, questioning the details of the event that took their life, and that’s all normal to do. But perhaps God wants us to look at the individual. God is giving us a chance to notice them, really notice. What was their faith like? Where did their strength come from? How did they impact others? Listen to the stories and lean into the answers. There’s probably something important in their life that we need to see, recognize, embrace, and live out in our own lives. 

Triumph has come in the midst of the tragedy of this past weekend. I see lives touched, never the same because a little light shined brightly for Him. During this warm weather, everything around me is coming back to life: the bushes I thought were dead are showing tiny green buds; brown redbud trees now have pops of my favorite color; daffodils are showing their glory even on the interstate; empty pear trees now are covered with white blooms—death to life as always promised every March.

Spring is a glorious reminder that through death there is new life and the promise of resurrection. And now spring reminds me of Aleya–her faith is now sight. As I was able to say goodbye to her at the hospital, I held her hand and said, “you get to see Jesus!” I was a bit jealous and overwhelmed with that thought. The smile on her face is even bigger as she walks hand in hand with Jesus, and probably doing a back flip here and there. How can I not be envious of that?

So today I’m thankful for spring, for calmness and peace after the harsh winds of life have hit us, for light that shines in the darkness, for a precious girl, and for the promise of resurrection. I’m reminded of the brevity of life and the constant need to tell those around me how much I love them, that they matter to me and to Him. I’m reminded of many of our sweet customers who have walked similar paths in the past year. We love you. Our hearts grieve with you because you are so dear to us. 

In this dark world, I pray that we can all be shining little lights, that when joined together we make a bright impact on the world around us.

Until next time, I pray you know how precious and dearly loved you are.

Joy