Last night, my family and I went to see the fireworks display here in Batesville. We have seen the show before, but from a distance. This year, we sat right on the bank of the river, which is about as close as you can get. Once the night had settled in and it was dark, the show started up with a bang (pun intended). It was a great show. I’m always impressed with the power of professional-grade fireworks. The colors and designs of the lights are beautiful; the shockwave and noise of the explosion is palpable. A show like that is quite mesmerizing.
However, this year, I did something that I’ve never really done before. For part of the show, I didn’t watch the show. Instead I looked around. It was dark enough that you couldn’t discern much around you. But then a firework would go off, and the landscape all around was lit up. For just a few moments, you could easily make out people, camping chairs, trees, the river. You could even make out the expressions on people’s faces – some were smiling and excited, some were passive and almost bored. All of this was made visible because of a thousand small dots of light.
The light from the fireworks doesn’t come anywhere close to being as bright or dazzling as the Sun. But nevertheless, with each explosion, the world was lit up.
How fitting is it that our God is compared to light that shines like the Sun (Rev 21:23). His power and glory are vast and completely dispel the darkness of night. And then we, who are made in His image, are smaller dots of light – like stars (Phil 2:15). Last night was a great reminder what a thousand small lights can do when they are all shining brightly together – they can like up a darkened landscape.
Today, may you receive a spark that ignites you to shine brightly in a way that lights up a dark world and mesmerizes those sitting in the darkness.