It was quite a day yesterday.

Photo by Nathan Haniger

One of my neighbors posted this picture of the fire marching steadily over the mountains where we live last night. Thankfully, the glow and smoke from the fire was visible from where we are, but it’s not too close and seems to be moving away from us right now.

Amazingly enough, when I look at the above picture, I don’t notice the flames so much. All I see are stars, hundreds of stars (an exceedingly rare sight in the Bay Area), stars so bright that the violence of the flames couldn’t overpower them. It’s breathtaking.

It reminded me of our MOPS theme this year, We Are Starry Eyed. The picture the theme evokes is being rooted firmly on the ground, in the messiness of life, but with our eyes looking up, focused on the stars. I love the idea of being full of hope and seeing the light in the darkness. To quote my toddler, “I want that.”

But this picture made me realize that I don’t want to just see light in the darkness, I want to be a light in the darkness. We are called to see the Light, but then Jesus asks us to be the light. I want to be so full of Jesus’ love that I am a beacon of hope, a city on a hill, giving glory to our Father in my every day life.

That’s my prayer at the end of this very strange and difficult day: to shine, even in the valley of the shadow of death. I pray for you, too, on your strange and difficult days, that you’d overflow with Jesus’s light into the darkness.