I recently purchased a sheet of blackout stickers. They are removable, reusable adhesive plastic circles and rectangles of various small sizes that promise to block out 100% of light.

As soon as my stickers arrived, I went around my bedroom popping them onto various tiny lights that had been bugging me in the middle of the night. I put one on the small blue power indicator of a fan on my nightstand. I put one on the glowing green checkmark of our alarm panel. I stuck another to the flickering light of a router behind the TV and on the small red light on the TV itself.

Satisfied, I stopped there. I couldn’t think of (nor see) any other lights that needed blocking.

But in the middle of the night I discovered I had in fact missed a few.

When the night is at its blackest, and my eyes have adjusted, even the faintest light seems to shine like a beacon. An outlet has a tiny green dot of light that seems to light up the whole room. The small white power light on a speaker in the corner feels like a spotlight. A power strip under the bookcase fills the corner with an eerie red glow.

Light always seems to find a way. And the darker it gets, the brighter it is.

“The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness can never extinguish it.” (John‬ ‭1‬:‭5‬, ‭NLT)‬‬

Jesus is the light of the world. His salvation brings hope, joy, peace, and love to a very dark existence. What good news it is that no matter how dark it gets, His light is always shining. In every corner.

The devil runs around trying to extinguish our light, like I did with the stickers in my bedroom. But the light of Jesus in the hearts of His followers keeps shining with good deeds, kind words, and loving generosity.

The best news of all is that the darker the world becomes, the brighter my little light appears. Don’t stop shining when the world feels dark. Hold your little light high and believe in its power to light up the world.

Dear God, thank you for my small light shining in my little corner of the world. Thank you for the reminder that my light is far from insignificant in the face of darkness. Your light has power I can’t even see. I trust you to make it accomplish all that you intend.