Out of the Darkness

Saturday night I attended my 24th high school dance! Isn't that ridiculous?! It was homecoming again and I volunteered to chaperone. As a "girly-girl" when I was in high school, I LOVED everything about a high school dance, but getting ready, dressing up and having my hair done, was the absolute BEST part! (Well, besides dancing with Tim, who I had a crush on my entire school career! LOL!) I remember being young and spending the entire day making myself beautiful. Every part of my body had to be painted, blown-dry, styled, and primped and, not to brag, but I looked GOOD! And I knew it too! Looking good gave me the confidence to ask the cute boy to dance or go out on the dance floor and "strut my stuff"! Maybe those fond memories are what keep me going back to help with these events--I love to see the kids all dressed up.

But, I do have to say that these rites of passage have changed emmensely since the early 90s when I started attending high school dances! Back then, the "running man", "criss cross", and "electric slide" were all the rage. Now, students literally have ONE move...and it's extremely inappropriate. School dances are in the dark now, with very little light other than the strands of Christmas lights on the bleachers, and lots of smoke to add to the atmosphere. Back when I was in school, the lights were on and we had paper stars on the wall for decorations, if we were lucky.

When the dance was over this past Saturday night and the lights came back on, left behind were tons of water bottles, trash, & personal belongings. When the lights were off and the gym was dark, all we could see were the sparkles of girls' dresses and the twinkle of decorative lights, but in the light, the room was ugly and messy. At one dance I chaperoned years ago at another school, we even found girls' undergarments on the floor after the lights had been turned on!

My point is this...darkness, whether literal or spiritual, makes things seem nicer than they really are. Darkness hides the trash and the inappropriateness that you don't want to see, but the light makes blemishes and imperfections visible and obvious. When we enter into a relationship with Jesus, His light shines on us and through us, revealing those messes that need cleaning. Many times though, instead of cleaning them, we hide them from each other or we stay dark on purpose, so we don't have to worry about the mess we've been living with. But be careful, you can trip in the dark! You need the light of Jesus to iluminate your path and without it you WILL stumble.

Did you ever notice that lots of bad things happen in the dark? Crime goes up at night; nightmares happen in the dark; a strong wind at night time seems much worse than during the day. Turn on a light and things aren't as scary. Turn on the light of Jesus in your life or someone else's, and be open to fixing what you see! And see the darkness in your life slip away!