REFLECTIONS
January 22, 2012
 
 
let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.
Matthew 5:16
 
 
Inspiration
 
Each day offers something to learn. Something new will happen, or we may hear a story that we have not heard before, or an old one that has a lesson that was overlooked the first time. Sometimes what we learn may change our lives. So it was one day in a college English class so many years ago.
 “I am a part of everyone I ever met,” were the poet’s words as I remember them now. They stated a truth that struck me with a thud, but it was many years before they became an inspiration to me. The inspiration did not come from the sum of those whose lives indwell me. Rather, I was inspired by the reality that my life will become a part of the lives of others.
If I am a part of everyone I have ever met, then a little part of me indwells everyone I meet along my journey through this life. And that assignment carries with it a formidable responsibility; yet it also offers an engaging opportunity. Everyone I ever meet offers a possibility to bring something meaningful into their lives, to add a new dimension, to reveal Christ.
So, today as I think of those I have met along my pilgrimage, I shudder at the opportunities missed and even worse, that many of them carried away nothing good. But I pray that some of them have. And I pray for my life to reflect the Savior so those I have yet to meet will one day welcome Jesus Christ into their lives.
The words from a poem gave me a fresh meaning for my life. They gave me inspiration for the way I try to live. From them it was easy to see that our lives are intertwined in ways that make us one, and how God can use each of us as a light in the world. But the poet had a message I previously overlooked.
The words came from a poem I do not otherwise recall, written by a poet I never met and whose name I can’t remember. Yet the poet reached into my life and helped me see that the glow of our light in the world lingers longer and reaches further than any of us will ever know. It shines into the lives of everyone we ever meet.
And it shines into the lives of many we will never know.
 
You are the light of the world,
RichardÌ
 

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