Choosing Light Despite the Storm

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Posted by: Patrick Nugent | Monday, October 28th, 2024 (10:26am)

For once you were full of darkness, but now you have light from the Lord. So live as people of light! For this light within you produces only what is good and right and true. Carefully determine what pleases the Lord. — Ephesians 5:8-10

“Good job dad."

Not something one of my kids said to me. Though I hope they think I am doing a good job.

No, a complete stranger said this to me.

On May 7^th a tornado made our home unsafe for a few weeks. One of those nights we stayed in a local motel with a continental breakfast. The kids school was closed so they were going to be with me for the day. We made our way to the breakfast room, settled on our choices and sat down to eat.

While we were having breakfast, we shared a lot of laughs about what a rough night we had trying to squeeze five people into a small motel room. We laughed about my son’s choice of several little boxes of cereal mixed together. We laughed about my daughter spilling a lot of orange juice right after she poured it. During that laughter, my daughter asked me, “Dad, will we ever be able to go home again?”

I stopped laughing momentarily, looked at my kids and assured them that we would be able to go home again, that God would provide safe places for us to stay and food to eat. We talked about how fortunate we are that our home could be repaired, there were so many that couldn’t. During that conversation, that’s when it happened.

A man we did not know and had never seen before approached our table and said, “I beg your pardon, I couldn’t help but overhear, did you lose your house in a tornado?”

I answered, “Yes, we aren’t able to live at home right now, though we didn’t lose our whole house.”

“You’d never know it; you all seem to be pretty positive” Was his reply.

I stood from the table and softly said, “Sir, I guess I look at it this way; My kids are going to reflect my reaction to all this. If I react with anger, fear, and despair, that’s what they’re going to feel. But if I choose the hope and joy that God offers me instead, then I think I am leading them well.”

His eyes welled up with tears and with those tears in his eyes he said to me, “Good job dad” and he walked away.

In Paul’s letter to the church in Ephesus he reminds them that when we accept Christ, we are children of light. That light inside of us produces what is good and true and that light eliminates the darkness. God wants to shed light on the darkness inside of us that can lead us to feel despair, anger, and fear. When we let Him, we make our choice toward light.

All these months later I can’t say I’ve handled everything perfectly and I’ve always been able to reflect light to my children. But that morning, that man, that comment, assured me that I had chosen light instead of the darkness. While it’s okay to be angry or afraid, when we bring these feelings to God He will let light shine through in these moments. Sometimes darker things seem the easier to see, but God gives us hope in all things. Shine God’s light and not only will you find hope living in you, but you will also see it alive in others.

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