The Long of it:

Do you wonder sometimes whether the good you do is making a difference at all? Should you continue, or should you head for your she-shed and forget it all? Perhaps for years you’ve served in a soup kitchen or volunteered on Mothers’ Night out. Still, there’s no headline.

No TV footage. No going-viral. No modern-day social media “following.” 

“Is my Light shining at all?” you ask yourself. Or has it been put beneath a container in a quiet church kitchen so that nobody knows or cares about it in the least? After all, didn’t the Lord say, “Let your light shine”? 

On cloudy days we often say the sun is not shining. But, in truth, that glorious orb never stops giving light. It’s just that it’s not always shin-y—a blazing object in the sky where everyone can point and say, “Look! See how golden and intriguing it is today!”

To be clear, neither God’s sun nor His Son is ever a shiny object in the sense of glitter on the outside and emptiness inside. Instead, both have the same rock-solid purpose: to show the way. To offer light, even on cloudy days when it seems they are hidden. 

That’s what happens when you serve a plate of food in a community food kitchen. Or offer a beleaguered young mother a night out with the girls:

You let your light shine even if it’s not shiny.

The Short of it:

You may not be shining, but you’re giving light.