| Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” |
| —John 8:12 |
A year ago, a few days before Christmas Day, I awoke in the middle of the night. As I lay in my bed trying to fall back to sleep, I suddenly thought I saw a bright light flashing outside my bedroom window. I got out of bed, pulled the shade aside, and looked out into the darkness of the night. Suddenly, the light stopped. I peered into the darkness, but I could not locate the source.
Finally, I gave up and returned to my bed. Just before I drifted off to sleep, the following story suddenly flooded into my mind:
As Elizabeth signed out at the front desk of the medical clinic where she worked, she felt genuinely happy. Soft music played in the background. She recognized the familiar strains of “Silent Night, Holy Night.” 1 Some of the words came to her mind:
Silent night! Holy night!
Son of God, love’s pure light—
radiant beams from Thy holy face
with the dawn of redeeming grace,
Jesus, Lord, at Thy birth!
Jesus, Lord, at Thy birth!The words danced through her thoughts. She smiled, as she thought of her mom singing that Christmas Carol to her when she was a little girl.
She had only worked at this rural clinic in central Pennsylvania for three weeks. Compared to her internship at the largest hospital in Miami, this setting seemed like the middle of nowhere. But, the people were very friendly and welcoming to her, as the new doctor in their community.
Growing up in south Florida, she had never even seen snow. Now she lived where the medical clinic’s security guard had given her a snowbrush. Laughingly, he said:
“Sooner or later, Doc, you’re gonna be glad you have this brush.”Stepping outside, Elizabeth took a sharp intake of breath. In the ten hours she had been at the clinic today, the world had suddenly been transformed into a gloomy shade of white. The snow was falling so intensely, she could hardly see where her car was parked in the parking lot.
Somehow, she made it across the icy blacktop to her car, found the snowbrush, and in a very awkward way cleaned the snow off her car. It almost seemed that the snow was falling so fast that she couldn’t keep the windshield clean before it was covered again.
As she pulled out of the lot and onto the main street of this small town, she was met by cars backed up in all directions. Everything was at a standstill. Looking around, Elizabeth spied a side street and decided to turn, hoping to find a way to her apartment.
She soon found the side street was plugged with snow. The plows had not made a pass down this street for some time. It was slow going. Her car slipped and spun. As the minutes passed, Elizabeth realized that the houses had vanished and she was moving out into the countryside. She was lost. The snow was so deep she could not turn her car around. She had no idea how to get back to the main street and find her way home.
A bit of panic began to rise inside her. She kept hearing the words to the song that had been playing in the lobby of the medical clinic:
“Silent Night, Holy Night.
All is calm. All is bright.”Well, she thought, it certainly is calm outdoors, but it’s not at all bright and it’s not calm inside this car. What am I going to do? Will I freeze? What if my car stops running? Where’s all the sun and sand of south Florida?
Suddenly, in the far distance, Elizabeth thought she saw a light. It was quite bright, but seemed a long way off. Could it be coming from a house way outside of town? No. There were no houses here. As she watched, the light began to blink. It blinked three times and then stayed illuminated. Then, the light blinked three times again. A few moments later, the light again blinked three times.
Elizabeth, gently pressed down on the accelerator of her car and slowly began to move toward the light. She came to a crossroad and saw that the light had turned down another road. Elizabeth followed. Whenever, she would slow down or stop, the light would blink three times, as if to say:
“Follow me! Keep following me!”She came to another crossroad and the light had turned again. Elizabeth kept following. Suddenly, houses began to appear on either side of the road. Then, in the distance she saw a traffic signal. And soon, Elizabeth found herself back at the main street of town.
As she waited for the traffic signal to turn green, she noted that there were no longer any cars blocking the street. Traffic was flowing smoothly. The snow was still falling, but not as fiercely as it had been. She was safe. In just moments, she pulled into the parking lot of her apartment.
You see, when faced with a completely unknown situation, when Elizabeth ran out of options, when she had exhausted all her resources, Elizabeth did the wisest thing that she could do: she followed the light. And, so it is with you and me. The Scripture records these words of Jesus, as found in John 8:12:
“I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”
Christ is the Light of the World. We do our very best when we make the conscious decision to follow the Light.
Silent night! Holy night!
Son of God, love’s pure light—
radiant beams from Thy holy face
with the dawn of redeeming grace,
Jesus, Lord, at Thy birth!
Jesus, Lord, at Thy birth!
| 1 Mohr, Joseph. “Silent Night, Holy Night.” Public Domain. |
