Matthew 5:16 Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.
I have a lamp at home that I loved. I’ve had it since college (so for almost 20 years). It’s a wrought iron lamp with a glass lamp shade. It was a Target find and because of the glass shade I put a Tiffany bulb in it (Target find, too) because the regular light bulbs were just too bright. When it’s lit, it’s beautiful.
Well, it was bound to happen, a house full of boys…my stepson knocked over the lamp one night and the shade shattered into a gazillion pieces. Not the end of the world, cause really it’s just a lamp but I’m still trying to find a glass shade to replace the one broken, ’cause I just love it.
In a lot of ways I feel like this lamp. In college, I was a beautiful Tiffany lamp that radiated beauty…ok…that might be a stretch. But really, I was young, in my prime. No wrinkles or left over pregnancy masking. No extra weight on my midsection, my boobs weren’t tube socks. Nope…I was fresh off the shelf of Target. But now I feel dingy, old, and really quite broken. Broken over my marriage, my inability to stay home, my finances, and honestly where I find myself at 38. In many ways, I feel much like I’ve been shattered. BUT I can plug that lamp in a socket, click it on and it still illuminates a room. Just because the shade is broken, the light still shines. Thank goodness that regardless of the brokenness in my life…Jesus can still shine. He is still glorified.
So how’s the lamp shade of your life? Maybe your marriage is failing. Maybe your finances are screaming at you to get a job. Maybe your kids drive you mad and your anger makes you feel like a failure. You can’t keep the house clean. Maybe you have a sick family member and you feel hopeless. Your shade is shattered.
Good News!! You are still plugged in! You still click. Your light still shines. You still light up the room. Things may be broken around you, but Jesus still shines through. In the midst of shattered lives…I promise He can still be glorified.
*this was written for my last devotion I gave a Mops.
Unfaithful: For Better or Worse 