Shine Where You Are

Maples on the lawn of the Ashaway Seventh Day Baptist church.

For once you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord; walk as children of light – Eph. 5:8

Since the day I was given a polaroid camera for eighth grade graduation, I’ve taken photos. And at various times during the years, I’ve set themes for my photo-taking—”Things Out of Place” or “Close-ups” or “Scenes in the Rearview Mirror.”

Yesterday, on a long drive home from a family event, after about the third or fourth time I stopped the car, got out with my camera, and shot a picture of the beautiful fall foliage, I decided on a new theme: “Shoot Where You Are.” What’s the picture from where I’m sitting, behind the windshield, looking out? Taken that way, I can still see the foliage, the bright and vivid colors, but there’s a part of me directly in that picture, via the windshield.

So this morning, as I was making my coffee, I noticed that the trees in the backyard had hit their color peak. Grabbing the camera, I rushed to head out the door, then remembered my theme: shoot where you are. I went back to the window where I had noticed the trees, framed the photo, and shot.

Seeing in the light is like that. We often look for a source outside ourselves to illuminate the darkness, forgetting that God’s light is alive in each and every one of us, there to guide our way. It’s looking at the world with God-eyes, acknowledging what we are told in the first verse of today’s reading from Ephesians: Therefore, be imitators of God (5:1).

I’ll take that as a suggestion to Shine Where You Are!

About the Author

Mary Carol Kendzia

Mary Carol Kendzia is a product development director for Franciscan Media Books. She lives in Rhode Island, where she occasionally dips her toes into the Atlantic and reflects on the mysteries of life, among other things.