Shining our Little Lights in the Lives of Others
“No one lights a lamp and puts it under a bowl; instead he puts it on the lamp stand, where it gives light for everyone in the house. In the same way your light must shine before people, so that they will see the good things you do and praise your Father in heaven.” (Matthew 5:15–16)
As I sat in a chair after a meal, my mind danced around a number of recent and past events as well as plans I had for the future. I wouldn’t say it was too sudden what happened next but what resurrected in my mind was something I had forgotten for a long time now and which I had done almost like any other thing I had the ability to do. Thinking about it all over again by replaying the event in my mind made me to feel somewhat optimistic about many other times I could be of help to others the same way others could be of help to me as well.
One of my friends recently lost his Mum who had been down with a stroke. The feeling of that sort of loss is something I am not familiar with; something I can’t even fully imagine even when I try to do so by attempting to place myself in the too-large-to-fill shoes of my friend and the members of his family especially their Dad who must have been very devastated by the news of his wife’s passing. It is difficult to really find the right words to describe the pain the family must be going through as I write this right now. How would their Dad cope without his wife beside him as he used to have it in the past when the children weren’t around?
The event that made me recall with some bit of fondness and sadness took place one afternoon. I was trying to navigate a game of football on PS4 when my friend who is in a different State calls me to ask me to assist his family — who live in the same compound as we do — to get a pack of Glucose for the use of his ailing Mum. I didn’t have much money on me at the time but I still went out.
I went to about two to three pharmacies and then a supermarket where I saw the product but I felt it was way beyond what I expected it to cost and so I walked a little farther to a bigger shopping mall where I couldn’t find the pack of Glucose. I had to go back to the first supermarket and even though I was short by some fifty naira, the young salesgirl wouldn’t budge on letting me pick the product urgently and then get her the balance later. I had to call someone from the house to come to the spot where I was with that sum. It was then I was able to purchase the product and then I went ahead to present it to the family of my friend.
My friend’s older brother asks me to be patient while they try to refund me but I tell him it was nothing and that I was happy to help. I was sort of embarrassed with the show of appreciation from him and especially when his Dad learns about it. I wish the woman health and leave.
I made one more visit to the woman while she was in the hospital before I learn of her passing one Sunday morning. It was devastating but I barely knew what to say. Her health at some point at the hospital was getting better and in between, it was also deteriorating. It was sad to hear the news.
I remembered that little act I did while sitting in a chair and saw it as my own contribution to seeing her hale and hearty again. Even though she did not make it through the year 2020, I am happy she lived and I am happier that I could meet her and do one act that I now recall. May God rest her soul!
Light is essential to humans. Some persons compare the eyes to light — they say the eyes are the lights we have in our bodies — when we do not have bright eyes or when we cannot see, that light is dimmed; the light becomes weak; it is extinguished if we are completely blind. It is the light of our eyes we use to see others, to appreciate God’s creation. Our eyes are lights that shine in the eyes of others when we look at them and they in turn look into ours. We cannot talk about how important the eyes are as lights in our bodies.
The light which the Bible describes is something that could be open to interpretative multiplicity but at the same time, there are some common or universal aspects to explaining what it means. Light produces brightness; it puts away every bit of darkness and announces its superior power. In the daytime, we experience the light that helps us to engage in a number of activities until it is dark to do anything except for those who however engage in nefarious activities.
Let us realize that the fleeting nature of life is enough to make us to do the best we can do each and every day. We do not have to do the biggest things. We do not have to spend the most money helping others. We do not have to be told when someone around us is needy or not. We do not need permission to be nice to people or to shine our lights before others.
The God we say we worship or the divine being we believe in may not be in the physical form that we expect and the closest to that form are the people we see around us and interact with. Our relationship with them is all that matters each and every day.
Light is meant to dissipate darkness and so, our little acts of kindness should make the darkness in the lives of others disappear as well. The more lights we shine, the more the darkness around us vanishes.
