Stumblin' in the Dark

I’ve been walking around with a sore toe for almost a week. It’s an ‘old housecleaning injury’ -- somehow that just doesn’t have the same ring as an ‘old football injury’ but anyone who knows me, knows that I could never survive playing football. If I wasn’t creamed by the players physically, they’d ban me from the game because I'd ask too many questions about how it works.

Anyway, back to my toe…

Late one afternoon, I noticed that the moon was unusually large and bright, so I snapped this picture while it was still quite light, and made a mental note to check it out again later. After I turned out the lights for bed, I saw that the coulee was flooded with moonlight. It bounced off the snow and seemed to fill all the nooks and crannies with a mysterious glow. Although it was really bright outside, the moon was high in the night sky, and it didn't stream in through the windows. The house was pitch black. In my hurry to check another view, I walked right into my little kitchen step ladder and stubbed my toe (really hard!)

I was so mad at myself – I knew that ladder was there. Why in the world didn’t I just turn on the light? To make matters worse, it’s my previously injured toe (from the housecleaning incident of long ago), and that seemed to increase the pain.

Well, that was the end of the moon watching. I sulked to bed and thought about my sore toe and how silly it was to try to navigate in the dark, when light was so available -- just a flick of the switch away.

By morning my toe was a bit better, and I remembered this verse:

Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path.

Psalm 119:105

This light is as readily available to me as the electric lights in my house, but for a variety of reasons, I sometimes fail to use it.

Sometimes, I forget it’s there;

Sometimes, I think I know the path and don’t need the light;

And sometimes, I wonder if the light won’t be just a little too bright – that it will flood the nooks and crannies of my world and be too disturbing.

I’ve had a few wrecks because I failed to use the light. But I’m thankful that each time, Jesus gently reminded me where the light is and how to use it.

Thank you that Your word is a light in every kind of darkness.
Help me to choose Your word as a light on my life’s pathway so that I don't stumble in the dark.