Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven. – Matthew 5:16
One summer evening I was driving on a highway in Eastern Oregon. It was a beautiful, clear night with the moon shining brightly. Having been over that highway many times before, I knew it well. I knew there was a curve sign ahead, illuminated by little buttons that would reflect the headlights of an automobile. I wondered how far ahead of the curve sign I would first see the reflector lights, so I watched until they came into view. The reflectors were visible one-and-a-half miles before the sign. I was surprised that I could see them so far away.
Just a few weeks before, I had been driving on the same highway on a dark, stormy night, and at that time, I wondered how far away the reflectors would be visible. But that time they were only visible for half a mile.
At different times since then, I have thought about my findings and compared it with conditions today. A quick glance at the daily paper makes it evident that it is getting dark and stormy spiritually, so the light God puts into our lives to reflect out into the world may not go as far as it would under better conditions. If that light will not go as far, then we will need more light to compensate! We should open our hearts wider and let more of that light shine into our lives in order for us to best reflect it. And this is what we want—to get that wonderful light out into this darkened world!
The light reflectors on highway signs are only about a quarter-inch wide, and one might wonder how much good such a small object could do. But because they are reflectors, beams of light are gathered and sent a great distance. In like manner, no matter how small or insignificant we may feel, we can be reflectors of the light God has put into our lives—a beam that shines a warning light out into a sin-darkened world!