Malcolm Muggeridge, an English author and satirist, was once asked the question, "What do you most want to do with the rest of your life?" He replied, “I should like my light to shine, even if only very fitfully, like a match struck in a dark, cavernous night and then flickering out.”
When our children were young, they liked to read poems by Shel Silverstein. One of these poems caught my attention
When our children were young, they liked to read poems by Shel Silverstein. One of these poems caught my attention
"There’s a light on in the attic
Though the house is dark and shuttered,
I can see a flickerin’ flutter,
And I know what it’s about.
There’s a light on in the attic.
I can see it from the outside,
And I know you’re on the inside . . . lookin’ out."
Uncannily, Muggeridge’s comment on the twilight years of life could well have been a commentary of a poem meant for children.
As we grow older we become increasingly isolated and shut in, like living in dark and shuttered houses. In this final lap, many people hope to have the same aspiration as Muggeridge. If our lives in the past had not been good examples, we hope that however flickering and for whatever time remaining, the light we now have would shine forth.
As we grow older we become increasingly isolated and shut in, like living in dark and shuttered houses. In this final lap, many people hope to have the same aspiration as Muggeridge. If our lives in the past had not been good examples, we hope that however flickering and for whatever time remaining, the light we now have would shine forth.
Light may be vision. Light may be virtue. Light may be wisdom. Light may be comprehension and light may be truth. Light may be a beacon.
Light must be seen. Why? Because the light we have is the light of Jesus. That light has a force-multiplier effect. It can reach out beyond our wildest expectations. Ephesians 5:8-10 “For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light (for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth) and find out what pleases God."
St Francis of Assisi, kneeling at a crucifix towards the end stages of his life, prayed, “All highest, glorious God, cast your light into the darkness of my heart. Give me right faith, firm hope, perfect charity and profound humility, with wisdom and perception, O Lord, so that I may do what is truly your holy will. Amen”
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