9. In the light of love…
Anyone who loves their brother and sister lives in the light, and there is nothing to make them stumble. But anyone who hates a brother or sister is in the darkness and walks around in the darkness. They do not know where they are going because the darkness has blinded them.
1 John 2:10-11
Have you ever been in absolute darkness? Not a shred of light? Years ago, I took a group of twelve-year-olds down a cave which opened into an immense space known as The Ballroom. It was far from the caves entrance and when we sat in a circle and turned all our torches off it was absolutely dark. We sat like that for a short while until someone gave in to the urge to see and switched on their torch. Just one small torch shattered the darkness.
John compares love and hate to light and darkness. Just as a glimmer of light – one small torch, a candle, the glow of an alarm clock – disperses darkness, so one small grain of love in our hearts dispels hatred. Hatred and love can’t co-exist, so John urges us to love each other and get rid of the darkness hate brings into our lives.
Just try, for a moment, to imagine hate so strong in your heart that love is cast out. You are consumed by that hatred, your every waking thought is one of hate for the person or persons. You can’t eat, sleep, live a normal life because of that hatred. You are blinded, stumbling in the darkness of hate. Now bring just a glimmer of God’s unconditional love into that place of hatred, of darkness. Feel the light spreading through your heart.
Much as I enjoyed the moments I had down in The Ballroom, experiencing total darkness, I was relieved when at last I could see again. Darkness closes us in; it is claustrophobic and makes it hard to breathe. Hatred harboured in our hearts will do the same thing. It will cause us to become anxious, suspicious; it will limit our capacity to live the lives we are meant to. Light, on the other hand, brings visibility. It enables us to function and find our way easily. The lighthouse guides the ship into safe harbour. And love will do the same for us enabling us to be the people we were created to be.
Prayer: Lord, love dispels hatred. May your love flow through my veins and fill my heart to capacity leaving no room for hate. May your love then flow through me to my brothers and sisters in the Lord and beyond to the edges of my world. And may that love dispel darkness in others.
Amen
Action: Today, let love flow, let light come…
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