It’s a hard, dark country, Wales. At least it seemed so to me as I travelled its narrow high roads one wet September. The canyons below, the cliffs above and mountains beyond all wore the same foreboding hue. So did village roofs. Under rain, they glowed black as ravens’ wings, and looked as ominous.
Slate. Wales has an abundance of it. Mined there for centuries, it has made many a man wealthy and many a miner’s wife a widow.
One foggy day, a rattling wooden cart riding narrow parallel rails plunged our family deep into a mining tunnel; its mouth as black as slate itself. After the first gut-twisting drop, our cart shuddered hundreds of feet down a lesser incline to the chilly bottom of a still-operating slate mine.
Bare hewn rock walls passed in a blur, inches from the cart’s side. We would have travelled in total blackness, except for the bright headlamp at the cart’s front. And also except for lesser, pale bulbs hanging from cords placed every few hundred yards along the weeping tunnel walls.
“You are the light of the world,” Jesus Christ told his followers. But two centuries later, now, here, when our globe feels encased in blackness, many wonder “is it worth it to shine? Does a fingerling of light have a breath of a chance to pierce anyone’s darkness? “
No, too many say. I’m not big enough, bright enough, outstanding enough. Make a difference? Who, me?
Something I saw in the bowels of that Welsh slate mine tells me different. Clacking past one of the pale bulbs glowing against the jagged wall of weeping slate, I noticed something startling. A small but vibrant fern-like plant grew below it. Surrounded by blackness, its fronds stretched up to the light. The plant thrived – but only, precisely, where the lamp-rays shone.
Every Christ-follower carries his light within. Some Christ-lights are pale in the gloom; seen for an instant, then gone. Some blaze for a heartbeat, then like the flare of a match, die down to conform to status quo luminosity. But a few illuminate every step, all the way home.
Need that light? It shines brightest when we most need hope. Look for those who love like Jesus, and name him as their source. Reach for it. Grow in it. Learn to know Jesus himself.
Got a big responsibility? An influential position? Maybe only a minute? A word? A single vote? If the light of Christ lives in you, don’t hide it. Whether you find yourself out front, blazing the way, or quietly illuminating someone else’s dark path, don’t give up shining. And remember this: beautiful things can and do grow, even in hard, dark countries. And even a sliver of light can grow something exquisite.
