Give Up or Get Up

I listen to the Christian music station in the car. I like to hear the positive uplifting messages, as I travel to pick up my children. I am not a fan of all of the music, some of it is too hard-rock style for my taste, but there are some great songs that I enjoy. I often find myself in tears with some of the profound messages of hope, joy, and Jesus. 

Yesterday, I had the station on, and one of the music artists was sharing a personal message about why he wrote a specific song. He spoke of a time when he was in the depths of despair and in his darkest hour. He felt immobilized and stuck. And then he realized that he had a choice to make. He knew he had a message to share, but he felt like someone was purposefully keeping him from sharing it. He felt that the darkness was keeping him quiet, silenced, and preventing him from sharing his voice and the gospel. He said he made a choice to start moving forward, out of the darkness, one day at a time, by taking action. He started serving, writing, sharing his light, and slowly... he started feeling better. He started feeling the light more than the darkness. It is an effort he has to make daily to get up and rise.

The artist asked a question something like this (I cannot remember every exact word, but this was the message I heard):

Who is trying to keep you from sharing your light?

The question caused me to feel deeply. There was something about the question that made me stir inside. I have a great desire to fight against the "who" that tries to prevent me from sharing my light. The adversary is thrilled when we give into our frailties, when the darkness overshadows us, keeping us afraid and silenced. His greatest desire is to defeat us. He wants to knock our lights out; he wants to bruise us with a spiritual "shiner." He cannot abide the light, and so he tries, with all his might, to take away our shine.

We are infinitely more powerful than he ever will be.

I had this image in my mind of a fighter; one who would not quit. After being pummeled to the ground by her opponent, she would just keep getting back up, to take another blow. Every time she would rise up and stand, her opponent became more afraid, weak, and amazed by her strength and power to stay her ground. Her opponent -- being a coward -- eventually left the fight, leaving her victorious.

There are many who are suffering right now, many who feel a sense of despair, and an impending doom. I have spoken with many people who feel the weight of the world, and they feel that the darkness is starting to put out the light. I have felt a portion of darkness myself. Sometimes the darkness comes and clouds our lives when we do not invite it in; but one thing we can do is fight to invite the darkness out of our lives, by the choices we make.

Like the artist who shared his story, we can fight the darkness by sharing our light.

I believe we all have a light to share, a story to tell, service to give, and we can make the world a better place by the very small and simple things that we do. It is a daily effort to rise and shine. As we continue sharing our light, it will get brighter and brighter. Our efforts do not have to be earth-shattering. Like lighting a small candle in a dark room, we can light up the lives of others just by showing them love, and kindness. The more light we give, the more light we invite into our lives to cast out the darkness that desires to consume us.

When you start to feel the darkness descend, reach for the Light. We are here to learn to rely on our Savior. He is the Source of all Light. If there is some way -- large or small -- to share His light with the world, we need to do it. The world needs to know of Jesus Christ and His love.

Do not give up.

Get up and share the light!