LET THE SUNSHINE IN

Every morning a close friend of mine sends out a “Thought for the Day” to a few friends. Thankfully, I am one of them. For example: “If you don’t make time for your wellness, you will be forced to make time for your illness.” Or, “You never look good trying to make someone else look bad.” Or, from Charlotte Bronte: “Crying does not indicate that you are weak. Since birth it has always been a sign that you are alive.”

My favorite: “The world needs more people who light up a room with hope instead of filling it with complaints about the darkness.” There are so many who will not let the sunshine in because they believe that focusing on the bad around us is what everyone wants to hear. When we read the paper, when we listen to the news, all we seem to read and hear is about the bad news, when, in reality, there is so much more good news than bad; so much more.

All we have to do to acknowledge this truth us to examine our own lives. We have so much more to be thankful for than to complain about. Yes, we all have complaints, sometimes, it seems, even more than our fair share, or so we believe. We also have more to be thankful for than, perhaps, our fair share, even though we are often reluctant to admit to that truth. But it is only when we let the sunshine in do we perceive this truth.

Sometimes that is not easy, is it? Why? Because somehow the bad always seems worse than the good. As I age, my body tells me in no uncertain terms that the aches and pains I am now feeling, aches and pains I never felt before, are not going to go away. I can moan and groan and complain, but that will not do any good. They are here to stay. But I am here: blessed to have lived this long, blessed beyond anything I have deserved. Amid my aches and pains the sun shines every day. And I thank God every day for that.

The blessings of my life make any complaints seem trivial and, in all honesty, selfish. My guess this is true for so many of us, perhaps all who read these words. Yes, there are problems in this world, mostly of our own making and mostly because those of us who are so blessed hoard our blessings instead of sharing them with those less blessed. We even strive for more at their expense.

As Christians we are to be a people of hope, a people who will do all we can to let the sun shine in on those for whom there is so much darkness for whatever reason there is. We can stand around and complain about the bad, blame others for it and forget about the good. But that serves no one. When we focus on the bad, forget about the good, we only make everything worse. We cover hope with darkness.

We are called to light up whatever room we are in with the light of hope. That was Jesus’ message. It is what the Kingdom of God is all about. When we live as a people of hope, when we let the sunshine in, we give light to the darkness. So we must.