MINISTERS MUSINGS

OCTOBER 2006 MUSING

LIGHT FOR THE WAY

October heralds winter as we move into shorter days and darker evenings.These days most streets have good lighting, but it wasn’t always so. I grew up in a small village during the war and there were no lights then, not even from cottage widows because of the blackout. One of my tasks was to fetch a jug of foaming milk from the farm after the evening milking. My mother would give me a lighted paraffin hurricane lamp turned down low so that there was just enough light to see where I was putting my feet.(Very necessary as cows also passed that way.)It was good to have that light otherwise you really could not see your hand in front of your face. As I walked along I was enveloped in a pool of light before which the velvety darkness retreated just enough to see where I was going, (and where the cow pats were).

I still have that lamp. It is older than I am, and O boy, that’s old! It hangs in my conservatory and when I look at it I am reminded of a verse in the Bible; ‘Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path’ Psalm 119 v 105. God’s word is the Bible. Like that old lamp it will give enough light to walk God’s way, step by step.We won’t be able to see around corners, but it will take us around the corner when we get there, and see us safely all the way. There is of course one important thing. Just as I had to take that lamp with me and hang on to it if I was to see where I was going, so we must open our Bibles and take in the light of God’s word so that we can walk trustingly and safely. The old hurricane lamp is a bit battered now from use, and that’s how our Bibles should be. I hope yours is, and that God’s word is indeed to you a lamp and a light for your journey through life.