The other night I was in a technical rehearsal for a play. The show begins with a blackout, during which I enter and take a seat on a bench, the lights then come up, revealing me, and the play begins.
It was our first time running through the show with lighting, and this particular theatre space gets extremely dark when the lights are turned off. The blackout came, and I was immediately lost. I started moving and completely lost my sense of direction, I couldn’t see anything, I didn’t even know if I was moving toward the bench or toward the audience. I quickly regained what I thought was a sense of where everything lay in the space and I cautiously began to move toward where I thought the bench was. A short five seconds passed and then the lights came up. I had not made it to the bench. Although I was not as far off as one might have expected, I stood in a slight squat, two feet to the right of my spot.....
It was our first time running through the show with lighting, and this particular theatre space gets extremely dark when the lights are turned off. The blackout came, and I was immediately lost. I started moving and completely lost my sense of direction, I couldn’t see anything, I didn’t even know if I was moving toward the bench or toward the audience. I quickly regained what I thought was a sense of where everything lay in the space and I cautiously began to move toward where I thought the bench was. A short five seconds passed and then the lights came up. I had not made it to the bench. Although I was not as far off as one might have expected, I stood in a slight squat, two feet to the right of my spot.....
“It was too dark,” I said, “I couldn’t see my mark.”
Not only does this sentence rhyme, and for some reason remind me a Harry Potter, but I think it speaks to something much deeper about our relationship to the Lord.
The Christian heart desires to work diligently for the Lord. The Christian heart also desires to enact the will of God within this diligent work. But one of the great mysteries and frustrations for the Christian heart is discerning what His will is for me, us, now, in this moment. Where do I start? This question, I believe, has proved itself so hard to answer because of the darkness of this world that we are surrounded with everyday. Our world is broken, and therefore it is often hard to find any light in the darkness to lead us to the place where we can begin to enact God’s will. But, there is always a way.
I stood onstage and asked them to go to blackout again. When they did, I noticed that from the stage you could see a tiny clip on light from the both above that helped the stage manager to see the cues that she was calling for the show. I looked down at the stage, and I realized that if I entered from upstage(that’s behind the bench) then the stage manager’s light would be just enough to guide me to my starting position.
This scenario provides two possibilities for how we can fight through the darkness. One is to change your point of attack. We all are victims of the daily routine. Within this routine, we know exactly what to expect every minute of everyday, so we don’t keep our eye out for anything unexpected, like God’s Spirit revealing His will. If we change our point of attack, if we break out routine and try and view the world at a different and new angle, then we open up our minds and hearts to the possibility to the unexpected and supernatural. The second solution here is perhaps even more simple, and I will end with this.
When the world is too dark for you to see God’s calling, look to others who are shining His light to point the way.
-jon
Not only does this sentence rhyme, and for some reason remind me a Harry Potter, but I think it speaks to something much deeper about our relationship to the Lord.
The Christian heart desires to work diligently for the Lord. The Christian heart also desires to enact the will of God within this diligent work. But one of the great mysteries and frustrations for the Christian heart is discerning what His will is for me, us, now, in this moment. Where do I start? This question, I believe, has proved itself so hard to answer because of the darkness of this world that we are surrounded with everyday. Our world is broken, and therefore it is often hard to find any light in the darkness to lead us to the place where we can begin to enact God’s will. But, there is always a way.
I stood onstage and asked them to go to blackout again. When they did, I noticed that from the stage you could see a tiny clip on light from the both above that helped the stage manager to see the cues that she was calling for the show. I looked down at the stage, and I realized that if I entered from upstage(that’s behind the bench) then the stage manager’s light would be just enough to guide me to my starting position.
This scenario provides two possibilities for how we can fight through the darkness. One is to change your point of attack. We all are victims of the daily routine. Within this routine, we know exactly what to expect every minute of everyday, so we don’t keep our eye out for anything unexpected, like God’s Spirit revealing His will. If we change our point of attack, if we break out routine and try and view the world at a different and new angle, then we open up our minds and hearts to the possibility to the unexpected and supernatural. The second solution here is perhaps even more simple, and I will end with this.
When the world is too dark for you to see God’s calling, look to others who are shining His light to point the way.
-jon
