Light Your World

Light your world. About a week before Christmas, I went to the assisted living home to visit an elderly church member named Alice.

I found her in the lunchroom. Two other ladies were sitting at her table. One lady told me that her family was going to pick her up for Christmas and shared what they were going to do. I asked the other lady, Kathleen, what was she going to do on Christmas. Instead of answering the question, she unexpectedly became very angry.

I didn’t say anything. I understood why.

I knew that her son would not be there for Christmas.

On Christmas day, my husband and I picked up Alice from her room to have lunch in the cafeteria. There sat Kathleen alone.

We joined her, and I presented her with a Christmas gift.

Light your world. I was at a crowded deli near the holidays.

As I stood there waiting for my turn to be served, I watched one of the ladies serving the people who had a slight mental disability.

She was very stressed and frustrated.

When she served me, I was determined to be as kind as I could be to her. I received my purchase and proceeded to the checkout counter with my groceries. I was in luck; I found a line where I would be next. A man came up next to me and asked, “Are you holy?” “I am definitely not holy,” I assured him. “Why do you ask?” He told me that he saw how I had treated the lady at the deli counter and asked me to pray for his relative who was having surgery for cancer. We prayed together as the cashier rang up my purchases. There is a song sung by the group Newsong that encourages us to light our world and allow God’s love to shine through us. The words remind us that lighting our world takes only a little time —and yet God may use us to answer someone’s prayer.

There are many lonely people around you this holiday season.

Please light up their world with God’s love.

Ruth Cantrell