Let There Be Light...

On the first day of this new year (last Thursday), I studied the work of God's creation found in Genesis 1. The thought occurred to me that perhaps the work of creation could be applied to my own work week. And so, this week I am making that application.

For the first day of creation (my Monday) I am using "light" as a metaphor for knowledge and understanding. I will attempt to spend the day learning. I don't believe in coincidence and so I will be looking for God's fingerprints and listening for God's still small voice in every detail of the day's activities. Every person I meet and everything I read will be considered a message from God.

"In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was empty, a formless mass cloaked in darkness. And the Spirit of God was hovering over its surface. Then God said, 'Let there be light,' and there was light'" (Genesis 1:1-3, NLT). May God do His work of creation, beginning in my heart this morning, and extending into my whole day. May the Holy Spirit hover over my darkness, my emptiness, my formlessness. "Let there be light!"

It has been my habit for several years to take a name for God (there are many lists available) and to meditate on that name as a portion of my prayer of praise. Uniquely enough the name for God today (sequentially from my list) is "He Who Reveals His Thoughts to Man" (Amos 4:13). "Let there be light!"

Those of you who know me well are also aware of a prayer system that I use that assigns different types of prayer to eleven bead--each bearing a different color. The first bead that I pulled this morning was the black bead which symbolizes darkness and my need for understanding. The black bead calls me into prayer and meditation by asking God for understanding about all that is presently occurring in my life (the known and unknown). It's a chance to ask God about decisions that I need to make and then to wait and listen for the answer. The second bead that I pulled was--you can perhaps guess--yep--the black bead again. "Let there be light!"

While I was writing these thoughts into my journal a little bit earlier, a particularly relevant song began to play on my sound system. Again, those who know me, know that I have music playing all day long in my office. The song was, "Open the Eyes of My Heart" I couldn't help but laugh out loud at the gracious goodness of our Lord's affirmation. "Let there be light!"