Lightbulbs and Dilated Pupils

Lightbulbs and Dilated Pupils

On Saturday evening, I was invited to be part of hide and seek in the dark.  It was at the Meadows of Hope house (which was perfect since it is quite large and fairly empty right now because the girls have not arrived yet).

Bunny Trail—  I definitely think you should check out the Meadows of Hope website if you do not know about their vision and mission already.  https://www.facebook.com/meadowsofhope/info.  They will be reaching teen girls with the love of Jesus and teaching important life skills.  There will also be some equine therapy as well!

Now, that I’m done with that bunny trail….

Anyways, hide and seek was a lot of fun.  There were quite a few laughs and even some stubbed toes, and I could not help thinking how much a simple little game related to life.

When the lights went out and everything was pitch dark, my vision disappeared.  Nothing was clear; direction was jumbled.  I groped along the walls, feeling my way as best I could.  I bumped into things and had to imagine where I was and what surrounded me.  I longed for light to make everything clear.  I often thought, “If only i could see; If only this room was clear to my sight!”  I tried my best to get where I needed to go, but success was hard and sometimes a fail.  I stumbled along behind the black, fuzzy shapes of others; but they too banged their shins on furniture and ran their hands along the wall for a guide.

One time, towards the end of the game, the longed-for light came on.  The switch was flipped and darkness was dispelled by a light bulb.  “Turn it off,” we cried as we frantically covered our eyes in agony.  Oh, it hurt!  Our pupils had enlarged (dilated) to adjust to the darkness over the past few hours; so when light burst upon them, they were shocked.  The light went off once more, but we were even worse off than before.  Our eyes were extremely confused as they tried to switch between darkness, light, and darkness.  Now, I could not even see what I had been able to faintly see earlier.  All I saw was a swimming mass of muck in front of my eyes.  Not even shapes and faint moonlight through the windows could be seen.

Then the light came back on, to stay on, for good…..because we WANTED it.  We wanted it enough to endure the pain it caused our eyes.  There were groans around me (and yes, I was making my own sounds of misery) as we waited for the light to reveal what surrounded us.

It seemed like such a long wait; but finally, our pupils adjusted.  Believe me, we had to want the light, really, really badly for that to happen. 

Then I looked around me once the pain had subsided.  I could actually see people’s faces, where before I saw only unnamed shadows.  I could walk confidently, because I saw where the chairs were placed and the desks sat.  I was quite surprised to see the room that I was in…it was quite different from what I had pictured in my darkened state.

Doesn’t life feel like the light is off?  Everything is disorienting.  We doubt and question where we are, which way to go, and what stands in our way.  We try to follow someone older and wiser than us, but they too take faltering steps and feel their way through the hallways.  We long for light to show us truth and reveal the answers.  We want to see the hearts of those that surround us; but when the light comes on, we turn from it.  We ask to be returned to the black void because it is more comfortable there.  We may not see, but at least we don’t hurt nearly as much.  So the light goes away, but it is not like we thought it would be.  We had a glimpse of the light but returned to the dark, and now we see NOTHING.  Now we have truth mixed with lies in our head.  The few things we could depend upon (the moonlight through the windows) have even clouded over into a blurry muck.

We need to WANT THE LIGHT, MORE THAN ANYTHING ELSE.  It’s not easy; the light requires lots of effort on our part.  It requires sacrifice.  It will be painful.  We have to be willing to see things in the light, even if it is different from what we imagined in the dark. 

God’s Spirit is that Light.  He longs to open our eyes and show us truth and the way to go.  He wants to let us see into the shapes around us so that we can look into their faces and know their hearts.  However, we have to want His Spirit to reveal.  It will require prayer, fasting, and searching….all of which is not easy.  It may cause us to groan in agony as our hearts are opened from darkness into light.  There may be friends around us who prefer to stay in the dark—which is sad and frustrating to us.  There may be steps we have to take after the path is shown.  But when we ask for the Light, it will be given.  It may take lots and lots of time.  The Holy Spirit may still not answer all of our questions, but we can walk confidently because He has revealed what we need to know for the present time.
It only takes a light bulb to see in the dark; it only takes God’s Spirit and an open heart to see in life.

WANT THE LIGHT!  WANT THE LIGHT NO MATTER WHAT THE COST, TIME, OR SACRIFICE MAY BE!

^“But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.  But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God.  For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God.  Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God.  Which things also we speak, not in the words which man’s wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual.  But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.  But he that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man.  For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? but we have the mind of Christ” (1 Corinthians 2:9-16).