Fourth Sunday of Lent

No matter how blessed we are in life, everyone has experienced a period of darkness at some point. Although our periods of darkness are all different and may be caused by different things, they all have one thing in common. Those moments of darkness have all left us longing for the light.

During those moments when we have felt depressed, defeated, or filled with sorrow, we’ve always felt a longing to brighter and lighter days. We often find ourselves praying and asking God to help with that. We ask for relief from our sorrow and relief from the darkness shadowing our lives. When those prayers are answered, we are filled with gratitude. We thank God for the relief he has given to us.

In today’s gospel we hear one of the most quoted bible verses of all time – John 3:16.

“For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but have eternal life.”

The gospel goes on to talk about how light (Jesus) came into the world, but people preferred darkness (sin) to the light. So, basically that would mean people were content to live in their darkness and misery rather than to follow Jesus and come into the light. I find it hard to wrap my head around that.

This past week at my Scripture Study class, one of the ladies made the observation of how thankful she was that we have the scriptures to study. Early Christians didn’t have the New Testament to study — they were living it. People were living with the Son of God and didn’t realize it. That made me ask myself the following questions:

“What light has God placed in my life that I’m not seeing, and what darkness do I keep clinging to?”

Sometimes we find it easier to be content in our misery than to put in the effort to move ourselves forward. We are showered with blessings on a daily basis but are sometimes so intent on focusing on our darkness that we don’t notice them. As. I continue forward on my Lenten journey, I’m continuing to concentrate on the light in my life and making that light grow.

Keep your eyes fixed on all the light in your life, have a blessed week, and see you back here next Sunday.