The floor I work on has motion-activated lights. As one of the first people at work most mornings, I walk from the door to my desk and a variety of rows of lights come on as I walk. That’s both cool and convenient. But the flip side of the situation is discovered when we sit at our desks with such little physical activity for so long that the lights go off. Talk about a pretty good clue that we aren’t moving around enough!
As I reflect on that daily occurrence, I am reminded of how some people light up a room when they enter. Whether it’s their personality, their friendliness or something else, you likely have some people who make your world better just by being around them. Maybe you are such a person to others (whether you know it or not).
When I consider the fact that the lights go off after a certain length of undetectable activity, I am reminded that our failure to intentionally be light to the world results in darkness. It may be unintended, but still it is darkness that we can prevent.
You have heard the statement from Edmund Burke that “all that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.” Very literally on my floor at work, all that is necessary for darkness to prevail is that people do nothing.
Now that I have made the connection between my activity and the lights, I want that daily reality to be a reminder that in other areas of life I am just as responsible to proactively work for good so that darkness does not prevail.
Leap year lesson # 82 is Let your light shine.
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