Push Back The Darkness

This is the time of year we turn our clocks back one hour.
Spring forward.
Fall back.
That is always the way I remember it.

This year, it was my youngest daughter’s birthday.
The family was here to celebrate with her.
With a full house, there was a lot going on.
Wonderful things; glad to be together things.

I was the last one to go to bed.
As I was walking upstairs, I remembered that the clocks had not been turned back.
I put on a few lights that I had just turned off.
I went around and changed all the clocks.

Spring forward is much easier.
The mantle clock and the grandfather clock have to go through a few chiming intervals.
To fall back, each of those clocks need to be silenced, as I turn the minute hand around.
I try to stop on the hour, making sure I hear the clock click.

I put the handle back on the Westminster chimes option.
I listened to make sure the clock is chiming correctly.
Everyone was asleep.
The clocks in those bedrooms could not be adjusted until the morning.

I sent a text with a cute Fall Back image, just in case it was forgotten.
I knew that the next morning, it would be daylight an hour earlier.
I knew that the next evening, it would get dark an hour sooner.
Some people struggle with the shorter days and the longer hours of darkness.

I was driving and looked at the clock.
I was so surprised that it was much later than I thought.
I had wanted to get home and get a few things done before dinner.
I looked at my watch, which agreed with the clock in my car.

When I got home, I put the tea kettle on to make a cup of tea.
I looked at the clock on the stove and saw that it was an hour earlier.
I realized that I had forgotten to change the clock in my car.
I had also forgotten to change my watch.

All day long, I had my phone with me but never looked at the time.
I was trusting what was right in front of me.
Both things, that I have come to rely on as I’m out and about, were wrong.
I had the gift of an extra hour, or so it seemed.

I thought about how darkness was coming much earlier.
I am sure that many people would like the opportunity to push it back a bit.
Push back the darkness.
Shine a light that was not there before.

I thought of a question I had heard once.
What are you doing to push back the darkness?
That is a question worth pondering.
As believers in the Lord Jesus, we are to push back the darkness by shining His Light.

But how?

We can listen to the heart of another.
We can make a meal for someone.
We can drive someone to their doctor’s appointment.
We can make the phone call that we have been putting off for far too long.

We can stand up to a bully.
We can defend the least of these.
We can speak up when staying silent is far easier.
We can encourage and build up instead of tearing down.

We can raise our children to know and love the Lord.
We can take care of our neighbor’s child while she goes to the grocery store.
We can visit the elderly and care for the sick.
We can invite people to our home for a meal.

These things seem far too easy.
They cannot be sufficient to push back the darkness.
But they are.
It is putting something beautiful into the world that was not there before.

That matters.
It matters a lot.

Whether we write, draw, paint, crochet, knit, cook, or bake, we are using our unique gifts.
Those unique gifts, which God has given to us alone, are to be used for the Kingdom.
Those gifts are to push back the darkness in small, steadfast ways.
Those gifts are to shine a bit of His Light into a dark world.

Pushing back the darkness is a quiet act.
It is never announced.
It is never done for show or notoriety.
It is done because the world is a dark place that needs illumination.

We have small ways to combat the darkness.
Even if no one sees, God sees.
Even if no one says, Thank you, God is pleased.
Pushing back the darkness is one of the most important things you can do.

First, you have to realize that darkness exists.
I assumed my watch and the clock in my car were correct.
They were one hour ahead of the real time.
What was right in front of me was wrong; I planned my entire day around the wrong time.

This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. (1 John 1:5)

What can you do to push back the darkness?
Can you shine a little bit of Light into the world that so desperately needs it?
What beauty can you put into the world so others may see Him?
Nothing you do for God, to make Him known, is ever in vain.

Only one life, ’twill soon be past, Only what’s done for Christ will last. (C.T. Studd)

Shine!
Push back the darkness a little bit at a time.
Put something beautiful into the world that was not there before.
The world will be a little less dark.