Gloomy; that is the word that describes our current weather, the weather forecast and the weather postcast (I made that word up).  The last ten days we have seen little or no sunshine and it is starting to show. I go work and clients remark on the lack of sun.  I go to the grocery store, the clerk is hoping for the sunshine. My reply is always the same, “Guess we will have to make our own sunshine today.”  We are definitely affected by what happens outside of us.

Truth be told, it is what goes on inside of us that matters most. We can source our own light within or we can succumb to the gloom and doom without.  The decision is ours to make, really.  How we respond to what happens outside of us is directly proportional to what we have stored up inside of us and I think one of the best things we can do build up a bank of light inside to draw upon when times get tough. Genesis 1:2-3 tells us the beginning was dark and then God’s presence brought light.  Not to be confused with the sun and the moon – they were created on day four.  This light is God’s goodness and His presence and our acknowledgement of it. It is the primordial yearning found deep inside each and every one of us. It is the real you and me that transcends time and space that we crave and long for but have forgotten to go to in this material, time based world. And as a result our first response is to almost always look outside of ourselves for our happiness instead of inside; instead of turning to the God already in us who waits patiently for us to wake up from our slumber and notice His presence! 

I can not get peace and contentment from anything outside of me.  Believe me, I have tried.  I remember hoping for him or her to do this or that; or when I got thus and such then I would be happy. And while whatever or whoever it was that I was so sure would make me happy may have done the job for a time, nothing earthly has ever and never will fill me for the long haul; the effect is always temporary and fleeting.  Listen to me, nothing outside of me has ever or will ever give me lasting peace or happiness; peace and happiness are an inside job and a choice that you and I must make.   Paul reminds us that contentment is not specific to time or space (Philippians 4:11) but to a mindset, or rather a heart set (I made that phrase up). It’s an inside out job.

I am commanded by the red letters of the Good Book to let my light shine, and I can’t give away what I ain’t got.  In that case I must be directly connected to the Source, of course.

Gloom, pain, hurt or loss got you down?  Look in and up, then choose to store up and shine out a little Sonshine, the kind that lasts. 

“Peace I leave with you.  My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you.” John 14:27 NKJV

Be the light and be joy filled,

Christine Davis