Be an EVER-READY Light!

It’s Thursday morning and I’m at my volunteer post in Radiology at Children’s Hospital. It’s a good day. The “little” patients are tolerating their pain until their x-ray is over with. I say to the younger ones “Let’s go get your picture taken. Be sure to smile really big!” To the school age kids, I say “Ready to go to Star Wars’ Launch Station?” That’s what I think of when I go into the room. This humongous arm of white steel with the grand camera ready to take off! Not to mention the 3-D X-Ray technology in another area.

I go back to my station and enters the “EVER-READY bright light” of Raz (aka Erasmo) – from our Engineering Department. He’s a bright light because he’s always beaming from ear to ear with a smile that brightens everyone’s day. He has his ear plugs in, as usual, but takes one out to visit with me. I say, “So are you listening to Christmas music?” He shows me his phone – it’s playing Johnny Matthis’ “Sleigh Ride”. A mom in the waiting room hears us talking and says, “I love Christmas music, too” and one of our cast technicians comes out of her room declaring her love for Christmas music, too.

Maybe you’re thinking these folks are in denial that Christmas is over. Oh, no – that’s not the case. Raz listens to Christmas music all year round. He says it’s always a happy day when he’s listening to Christmas music. Something else Raz and I have in common is we speak the same language. We talk about the goodness of God and how grateful we are to have Him in our lives.

I remember an old song written in 1913 by Ina Ogdon. Here I go again – referencing another song. These were the words:

“Brighten the corner where you are!
Brighten the corner where you are!
Someone far from harbor "you" may guide across the bar;
Brighten the corner where you are!

Do not wait until some deed of greatness you may do,
Do not wait to shed your light afar,
To the many duties ever near you now be true,
Brighten the corner where you are.”

The point of that old song is to be a light that brightens someone’s day and even might brighten their life with love, hope and joy that saves them from giving up.

Sometimes we hear people say: “I’m not good enough.” “What difference can one person make?” The funny thing is, I’ve been in the dark when there was an electrical storm and I couldn’t find the lighter to light my candles without my Eveready flashlight. We all can be that Eveready flashlight to those around us who can’t find their way. We ARE qualified to be LIGHT-bearers. There is so much darkness in this world – that when a HIGH BEAMER, like Raz, enters the room – darkness flees.

Here’s the Gospel truth: We each have a unique mission which God has prepared for each one of us. Maybe the mission is to share God’s good news in not just our talk – but our walk (St. Francis said “Preach the Gospel and all times and sometimes use words). Or maybe it’s to help one little child get a drink of water. And perhaps, that child will grow up and be that one that will change the world by their EVER-READY light.

If you’re tempted to sell yourself short, remember what Jesus said in Matthew 5:14. “YOU are the light of the world. People do not light a lamp and put it under a bowl. The purpose of any light is to shine in the darkness. Even the tiniest light can pierce through the darkest darkness.”

Prayer: Heavenly Father, we thank you for choosing us to serve you. Let us be instruments in your hand so that we brighten the corner where we are and impact our neighbors’ lives for your glory. In Jesus’ name, amen!

Amping Up Our “Little” Light Wattage

Here at Children’s Hospital, it’s an early, busy morning for radiology, fractures, and casting. Kids will be kids, and getting fractured and broken bones come with the territory. We see young gymnasts and cheerleaders who take an awkward tumble, athletes who fall the wrong way, and everyday mishaps at home. I love being here and seeing “healing-in-action” by these well-trained and gifted medical team members. I spoke about Ricky, an orthopedic technician, a couple of weeks ago in one of my blogs. Today, he stops by to tell me I was on his mind at 4 a.m. this morning! (Gasp!) “Was it a nightmare?” I asked. He quickly replies: “No, I was thinking about you and your blogs and I want to share some insight I’ve gained."

Ricky goes on to tell me why he purposes to be a light to the children: “As a result of parents talking negatively about their fears and pain from injuries they suffered as children, many of the children I care for have the idea that they, too, should be afraid. I do my best, before I treat them, to take my time to help comfort them before I ever start in with their treatment. I’m also very aware that because of racial divides and prejudices “talk” in families, some children come inbred with preconceived ideas that aren’t true. What parents say, affects children’s thoughts. As a black man, I have to intentionally come across to the patients that I am a kind and caring friend so I take, sometimes, too much time, to deflect their concerns. I just want to be a light that shines brighter than their concerns.” I assure you, he does!

We go into a deeper conversation about the importance of caring, sincerely caring, about everyone we encounter. Instead of people feeling they are only a number, they sense someone cares about them enough to greet them, ask their name and say “How are you doing today?” (and really, really mean it). Mother Teresa said, "Kind words can be short and easy to speak, but their echoes are truly endless." William Shakespeare said, “Eyes are the windows to the soul”, so shouldn’t we look into the eyes of others and desire to reach into their soul (their will, their mind and emotions) to lift them from sadness, defeat, worry and stress and help reverse those emotions to joy, peace, hope and love with some kind words?

I know that I harp a lot on “Letting our little lights shine”, but I wasn’t the original harper. Jesus was. He said, “You are the light of the world, a city on a hill that should not be hidden!” What do lights do? They brighten a room. They cause darkness to flee. Even if it’s a small nightlight, we can still maneuver through an otherwise darkened room with much more freedom.

Maybe you don’t consider yourself to be a spotlight or a fluorescent light (like what is in this area that I work in here at the hospital.) Lord, have mercy! Every wrinkle, freckle, make-up flaw, spots on clothing and hairs on my head -- is magnified! But at the same time, there is no darkness to be found here. I like to think that my bright light is brighter than that bright light. We can start off as a little night light by simply smiling to those we encounter. Before long, we’ll start to amp up the wattage and our light won’t be able to contain itself. It will brighten every corner, every crevice -- every friend or foe -- with God’s bright light.

Doctor -- Please Give Me the Good News First!!!

Yesterday millions of people witnessed the solar eclipse in some way. While I have a great appreciation for the wonders in the skies and on the earth, I'll admit I didn't get carried away with it all until I was at my car dealership for an oil change and the service guys were outside with their welder's mask and they were getting the view of the eclipse perfectly. My service rep called me over to take a look, and indeed it was a sight to behold. I was able to enjoy those moments because I was prompted to get my oil changed and I requested 1 pm. I wasn't even thinking about the eclipse to be honest with you. That was a special little favor from God.

But this little favor from God turned out to be a big favor because after the oil change, tires rotated, multi-point inspection and state inspection done, my service rep came and said "Miss Donna, I've got some bad news. Your front timing cover needs to be replaced which means the engine has to come out and it will be 19 hours of labor at $145/hour totaling $2755." I know my eyes must have become like saucers and he quickly said "But you've got another 1000 miles on your extended warranty so it will only be $50 for the deductible." Whew -- I breathed a sign of great relief. I told him, "Man -- next time, please start with the good news first!" And then I went on to tell him about one of my husband's highly critical surgeries -- it was touch and go as to whether he would survive it. When the surgery was completed after six hours, our neurologist came to the waiting room. He looked spent. I had already made up my mind that if my sweetheart went to heaven during the surgery, I would declare God's faithfulness and based on how the doctor looked, I was bracing myself for the news. The first words out of his mouth were "I'm so sorry that we were unable to get all of the tumor because he had such significant blood loss." I stopped him in almost mid sentence and said, "Doc, first, I need to know, is he alive or not?" To which, he replied, "Oh yes, he's alive and doing well!" Whew -- another sign of relief. I also schooled the doc that day about giving good news first.

My sweetheart underwent needed surgery and my car is going through needed surgery. The sun shined brightly and then, in some places -- it went dark. But the good news was, the sun never stopped shining -- it just appeared to go dark because the moon perfectly aligned between the sun and earth. How's that for our Creator's indescribable brilliance? My Sweetheart was still alive UNTIL our Creator deemed it was his appointed time to leave this planet, and my car will be repaired because of the foresight to buy an extended warranty just in case of potential repairs needed one day.

Everything about this post has to do with our awesome Creator -- He who knows EVERYTHING about EVERYTHING. There are times when something gets in the way and we struggle to see the light of Christ that we know is always there. During those times, it can be easy to be fooled into reacting to the darkness of our circumstances. Our faith calls us to live differently, beyond our senses.

Even during the darkest times, we know by faith that God puts a path before us and calls us to follow. Let's remember to act not only on what we experience with our senses, but at all times and in all circumstances to live by faith. Because He knows our todays -- the dark shadows that may come and the bright sunlight that drives out the darkness -- we can know every day the sun (The Son) is always shining brightly and our Creator has something special up His sovereign sleeves.....so let's just keep our "Son" glasses on and keep our eyes on He Who destroys the darkness.