John 8:12     I AM the light of the world.

The seven of us had come to La Parguera, a fishing village on Puerto Rico’s south shore, to witness a local wonder, but after a long, hot car ride our moods were very far from wonderful. We’d come to see a nighttime phenomenon known as bioluminescence - the luminous glow given off by tiny marine organisms in the waters of La Parguera.

When night began to fall, we boarded a charter boat, and as we chugged through the sea we were still tired and a bit irritable. Then the captain cut the motor and told us all to look astern. Our wake was brilliantly aglow.

"That radiance," our captain explained, "comes from thousands of little protozoa. When one tiny protozoan comes in contact with another, the nerves of one trigger the light of the other. They can’t light up on their own. They have to touch one another to do it." The captain bent over the gunwale, swept his hand through the water, and ignited a trail of fire. "there," he laughed, "I have just introduced thousands of tiny creatures to each other." "They are getting along brilliantly," one of my friends joked. We all began creating constellations in the water. We were now wonder struck. Later, as the boat headed in, we seven friends sat tightly together on a bench, laughing about how grumpy we’d been before.

And a thought came to me: We are so much like those tiny creatures. God has planted a light within each of us, but it’s only when we touch each other in a loving way that this light shines. In darkness I sensed the light of seven smiles. I vowed to keep this secret of radiance always close to my heart.

What’s the use of the light You’ve given me, Lord, if I don’t shine it?
Nancy S. Schraffenberger

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Job 33: 28     He will deliver his soul from going into the pit, and his life shall see the light.

My two-year-old niece doesn’t try to hide her fear of the dark. Yet, the other day, when her mother and I were rummaging through a dark cellar that gave even me the creeps, she was perfectly serene.

"I thought you were afraid of the dark," I said to her. "No dark. Mommy’s here", she answered promptly. "Oh," I teased, "the light depends on who’s around?" She just smiled, as if she knew a secret truth. Which indeed she did: The light does depend on Whom you stay close to, doesn’t it?

When I truly trust myself to You, Father, my darkness becomes light.
MANUEL ALMADA