Speaking about her grandmother’s courage and strength, one of my public speaking students referred to this quotation by Martin Luther King, Jr.:  “Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that.”  She spoke of how her grandmother intuitively knew that life wasn’t going to get better by perpetuating the hatred that had rained down on her family for so long.  She made a decision to shine light into the darkness by living a life of love. 

As the light of love, God so gets how dark darkness can be for us.  I’ve often been scared to tell God something for fear of a blinding light akin to a police interrogation where I’m asked, “Where were you on the night of…”  Yet, God’s light is wholly different.  It is a light that brings with it compassion and assurance that life in the light is so much better than a life stuck in a cycle of trying to drive out darkness with more darkness.  Secrets are pretty powerful as is perpetuating the wrongdoings of others by responding with more wrongdoing. 

God is calling us to live a different kind of life—one that understands that only light can drive out darkness.  It’s what I like to call a “duh” kind of a concept but sometimes the “duh” concepts are the hardest ones to put into practice.

Today’s act of defiant joy:  Inviting God to shine His light of love into the darkness of my heart.