I love looking around at nature and feeling the effects of the season changes on my senses. Seasons seem to change so slow-quick. The sun has changed its rise position from north of east to south of east and it sets the same west. Because of our latitudinal position, the prevailing west winds usher in those cooler temperatures and try as he may, the sun cannot significantly encourage that temperature up to those we’ve recently enjoyed. There’s a big contrast in the seasons in our neck of the woods.
So the worst-best and I were walking up the road last weekend. It was beautiful. It was chilly (I had my overalls on) but the sun was shining so bright on the mountain. The sunshine warmed the coolness. So while the worst-best stops for a sniff and to try to eat something that makes you not want to kiss her, I look across the field and notice the frost. Frost, dew drops that freeze when they land on a cooler surface, like the ground, or a fence, or your windshield. These glistening, beautiful little ice crystals really look like snowflakes to me. Simply, frozen dew. Anyway, as I was looking out across the field I noticed something. Where the sun shone the frost was melted and the grass was stretching tall. The parts of the field shielded from the sun were still frozen and brittle and crunchy to the foot. Do you see that?
The contrast in one field was striking to me – the grass in the sun and the grass in the shade. Warm and cold. Melted and frozen. Pliable and hard. Tall and beaten. Life and lifeless. Light and shade. Having the two extremes side-by-side required me to look at both at the same time. I could see the light and I could see the dark. It challenged me to think, honestly, where do I want to be – sun or frost, light or shade? And, I had to ask myself, am I where I want to be? Where am I standing right now? I challenge you as well, sun or frost, light or shade? Where are you standing right now?
I have come as a light to shine in this dark world, so that all who put their trust in me will no longer remain in the dark.
John 12:46
There are decisions to be made. Are we standing in the warmth of His light or frosted in the shade? Are we standing in the shadows or are we standing in the Light? It really is a matter of heart. Do we want hearts radiating the Son or hearts that radiate the cold, brittle, frozen? Have we placed our trust in Him? If so, we will be walking in the Son. If we’re feeling frosted, crunchy to the touch, we may need to rethink where we’re standing.
“While you have the Light, believe in the Light, so that you may become sons of Light.”
John 12:35-36
The big question is — Are we standing in the Light? Today, let’s evaluate where we’re standing – not where we should be standing we all know that answer, but where we actually are standing. Our words and our actions should give us a good clue as to where we stand – Son or frost. Look at the field. Are you standing in the middle or in the shade, out of reach of the Light?