Posted by
Virginia Daddy on Sunday, July 12, 2009 4:30:52 PM
A week or so ago I had to go on a "rescue mission" for a lost and dear Care Bear. Yup, that's right. My son has taken to it as his comfort toy, and my wife had traveled to Cheyenne for the day with them and later that evening realized that he may not have had his precious bear. So, what's a dad to do? But of course, retrace her steps in the hope of finding out that the bear may still be where she went. So, off to Cheyenne I go at about 7:30 pm. But after scurrying up the pass between Laramie and Cheyenne and then only about ten minutes from the capital, when I finally get cell coverage back, there's a message from my wife saying that Care Bear has been at home all along.
The thing is, though, is that she swore he had something in the car but did not come into the house with anything when they got home. So, seeing that I still needed to shop for a few things, I continue on. I stop by every place she had been to no avail in finding the lost something, but found what I was looking for. So, time to come on home at about 9:30.
By this time, it had gotten dark in Wyoming, and there's no real towns between home and my current position. In the daytime, it looks as if there is almost nothing. But here's where my title comes in. On the way back to Laramie from Cheyenne, a drive I have never made in the full night, I saw a lot I had never seen before. Most of it I could not make out, because there really are no big places between the cities. However, the number of lights that could be seen along I-80 was a bit surprising to me because in the daytime, it really looks like there is virtually nothing out there.
It soon hit me that in a similar way, this is how we realize what is truly good. In the day time or when we are in full light, we don't always appreciate the good that we are in. All too often, we must be in the dark to see what is truly good. It seems pretty obvious that to best see light it helps to be dark, but it is something different to learn to appreciate all the good around us all the time. When we are surrounded by good, it is often easy to forget that there is good that we don't see because we fail to look for it. And after not looking for it, we forget that good is truly everwhere. We only look for what we can see and not for anything else that is out there. We miss a lot that way.
That said, I truly believe that God purposefully puts us in dark places so we can see his light. All too often, that is the only way we will ever see the things we so often miss. One of those things that we so often miss is that we are to rely on him for all our needs. When we are lost in our own light we don't see his, but when we are in darkness, we put out no light. Only God can give us light, and we must always remember that. We can put off our own light, but that power is ignited by God, for we are totally lost without it. And again, sometimes God must put us in darkness to see that simple truth.
That little rescue mission perhaps was for more than a childs comfort. Perhaps it was for me, because I may have forgotten the importance of that truth.