In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. (John 1:1-4)
Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” (John 8:12)
Thomas said to him, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?” Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. (John 14:5-6)
Thought
The time of day that I choose to drive up to Lincoln and back each week is carefully planned. The first and most important consideration is the timing of road works along my route. I have discovered that the road works that take place during the day usually happen between about 9.00am and 3.30pm, in order to avoid school traffic and rush hours. Road works that take place overnight generally start at 8.00pm and finish at 6.00am. This leaves me a small window of time when I can avoid travelling during the rush hour and yet safely arrive at my destination before roads start to shut overnight. Ideally I like to be in the car between 6.15pm and 6.30pm, which means that if I have a good journey I should arrive at just about 8.00pm. I have occasionally had to travel later and have been on some very interesting and somewhat time consuming diversions to places such as Melton Mowbray.
This timing does, however, mean that for the past 6 months all my driving up and down the A1 has been in the dark. I don’t particularly mind driving in the dark, but I much prefer driving in daylight. At night you have to put up with the constant glare of headlights from the cars coming towards you on the other side of the road and most importantly you can’t actually see where you are going beyond the reach of your own headlights.
Last Saturday night the clocks went forward by an hour. For me that marks a wonderful change in my driving conditions as now it will be light for most of the journey at least and soon it will be light the whole time. This means no more headlights in your eyes and a clear view of the road ahead. It makes driving easier and safer and I can’t wait for it to begin.
Sometimes we may feel as if we are driving in the dark. We may feel that we have to cope with the glare from things around us and that we are struggling to see where we are going beyond the next step. Jesus tells us that he is the Light of the World and also that he is The Way. With Jesus in our lives it is like we are driving in constant daylight if we stay close to him. He will guide us and show us the way that we should go and we need never feel like we are in darkness again.
Prayer
Thank you Jesus for coming as the light of our world. Help us to live in the light and to follow your guidance as we journey along with you.
Amen