To be honest, I had a down day yesterday. They come along once every few months.

The trigger is always different. Yesterday’s isn’t important. Part of the problem was I got a bit overwhelmed, just coming off a 10-day vacation and being behind on so much of the news.

Providentially, the Scriptures I’ve been reading this week are good antidotes for the funk I briefly entertained, and I’m back in the saddle mentally this morning. And I was also quite encouraged by today’s 40 Days for Life devotion:

SCRIPTURE

For at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light (for the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true), and try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord. Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them. ~ Ephesians 5:8-13

REFLECTION by Dr. James I. Lamb, Lutherans for Life

For centuries physicists debated the nature of light. Two theories surfaced. The “corpuscular theory” maintained that light consisted of particles emitted from a light source. This explained some properties of  light, but not all. The “wave theory” stated that light emitted from its source as waves. Again, this explained some properties of light but not all. So, the debate continued. Did light consist of particles or waves?

In the early twentieth century, Albert Einstein answered the question-“Yes!” (And you thought Einstein was complicated!) He showed that light consists of “particles,” little bundles of energy called “photons.” However, when all of these photons zip along together, they behave as a wave.

Sometimes pro-life Christians can feel like a photon, a little particle of light, and we wonder if we can possibly make a difference in a world of darkness and death. The Bible, however, never talks about a “child of light” only “children of light.” When Jesus said in Matthew 5:14, “You are the light of the world,” “You” is plural. When you and I shine in the darkness, others shine with us. We are pro-life “photons” that form a wave of light that can and does make a difference in the darkness.

We are compelled to do so. Jesus hung and suffered on the darkness of the cross and paid the bloody price for our sins. Now the light of His empty tomb shines upon us through His Spirit cleansing us and declaring us “children of light.” But we are called to be more than “glow in the dark” children of light. We are to “walk as children of light” and take no part in the “unfruitful works of darkness.” But it does not stop with passive restraint. We “photons” are called to action, to “expose” the works of darkness.

As I said, that devotion was an encouragement to me. And the Scripture reference and underlined sentence address another “check in the spirit” that I had in my little funk. In our online activity, do we conduct ourselves as children of the light?

I know I fall short there. It’s hard to figure out the right approach sometimes.  The only thing I know to do is to continually ask God for His help and keep my nose in the Word.

Now, as my friend Fran would text me right about now, “RTW” – Return to Work!