Lisa notes

“I’m almost out of light,” he says. He’s sitting on the deck outside.

I want to add, “Me, too.”

Yet I don’t.

I hold it in. I say nothing. We’ve been in silent mode for about an hour already on this Friday night. He may have broken his silence, but I’m not ready to break mine yet.

But I do pull up a chair and sit outside beside him.

He is right. The light is fading. He finally closes his book. Not enough light to read by.

I look at the clouds, some dark, some wispy. All moving, all changing, leaving only pockets of light as the sun goes down in the west.

I shift in my chair and give a little. I speak. I mention I’ll go by the library tomorrow afternoon to return a book. He tells me about a frog he saw as he mowed the grass earlier.

Small talk. But it’s something.

The light continues to fade in the sky. A twinkle appears. I ask if it’s an airplane or a star. He says maybe a satellite.

Little by little, more stars appear. They’ve been there all along. They just couldn’t compete with the sun’s brilliance in the light of day. Now it’s their turn to shine.

He says he didn’t expect it to get dark so quickly.

Yeah, it can sneak up on you.

We don’t mention our heated discussion. We let it lie there, fade with the day.

It may rise up again in a new dawn, sometimes it does. But for now, we just let it go. An unspoken agreement as we stare at the stars and regain perspective of how small our problems are compared to the largeness of the universe.

I say I may go inside now and pop some popcorn. He says he may get a cup of ice cream. We enter the darkness of the house, flip a light switch, and resume our lives. Together, side by side.

Again in the light.

* * *

Relationships can be tricky. Certain issues we need to talk about again and again until they’re resolved. Other issues need to silently fade away and be forgotten. Wisdom means knowing which one is which.

As we get ready to touch our relationships with God and with other people in our Touch the Light 1 John 1 challenge, let’s notice God sending us sparks of light in whatever situation we’re in. Even on dark nights after the sun has set, the stars show up, one at a time, enough to see by until morning breaks again.

Which relationships are hardest for you? Share in the comments.

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If you’re interested in joining our 1 John 1 challenge to read or memorize or study ten verses, get details here and sign up today.

The Chaos Friend

I’m sitting in a folding chair in a big room. The speakers for the next Women’s Conference are being announced.

Through the long list of names, I only hear one name I recognize.

It is the one I would have least expected.

It is my chaos friend.

Her life, a series of hard circumstances and scarcity, began with learning disabilities as a child. Had she been in a different family at a different time, the disabilities might have been addressed. The poverty might not have been inevitable.

But instead, she bears the false stigma of “slowness,” a coinciding speech impediment, and a lifetime (so far) of lack. She’s had many ups and downs, actually more downs than ups, if you’re counting.

And they are inviting her to speak?

Do Not Gloat

I wake up. It was all a dream. The sunlight is streaming through my window.

But even in the light of day, even now weeks later, the dream sticks with me.

And the shock is wearing off.

I’ve known this friend for a few years. I’ve seen her get in some sticky jams. (I’ve even judged her for a few of them. Sigh. Shame on me.)

But I’ve also seen her bounce back time and again.

She lives rough, but she keeps moving forward. She endures hard breaks, but she keeps smiling. She leaves trails of mistakes, but she remains hopeful.

And I see it now.

Why, yes, she would make an excellent women’s conference speaker!

Despite her choices causing me frustration at times, she is a light in my life. She is another angle of God for me. She has as much of the divine in her as everyone else. She loves me. And I love her.

She walks in God’s light as far as her feet will carry her.

She exemplifies this truth:

“Do not gloat over me, my enemy! Though I have fallen, I will rise. Though I sit in darkness, the LORD will be my light.”
Micah 7:8

Search for Light

As I prepare to spend time with God in 1 John 1 for 6 weeks this fall (“God is light” and “Walk in the light” and “He is faithful“), I hope to remember my friend with light, even in the midst of her often reckless lifestyle.

Perhaps what was only a nighttime dream in my sleep could become a reality for her in our wakefulness.

What we dream in the dark can come to life in the light.

Sometimes it’s hard to see the light. But the light is always here.

God is always shining. Even when our vision gets too cloudy to notice his brightness.

I want to see the light in dark spaces. I want to notice more light in already bright spaces.

• Search for the light.
• Greet the light.
• Touch the light.

The 1 John 1 “Touch the Light” challenge resources are available beginning today. Sign up for yours here. You’ll also receive one email per week during the challenge with additional resources for 6 weeks, beginning September 12. Whether you want to read, memorize, meditate, or study his light this fall, you’ll discover a brighter world in the presence of God.

Do you have a chaos friend that shows you God, too? Thank God for them today. Share in the comments.

I’m linking up at these blog parties