The Armor of Light

" Brothers and sisters. . . Let us then throw off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light; let us conduct ourselves properly as in the day, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in promiscuity and lust, not in rivalry and jealousy. But, put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the desires of the flesh." --[ Romans 13: 11-14].


We live in a dark, chaotic time. . .

But it was ever thus. Today, we see Christians beheaded in the Middle East. In Jesus' time, the Romans crucified Christians-- so many innocents, that Rome ran out of crosses.

We see poverty and violence. In Leonardo daVinci's time (1452-1519), he created beautiful, even sacred art, but he also invented ten barrel cannons, and other instruments of war. Da Vinci called war, "a brutal insanity."

What is our response to drunkenness, rivalry, jealously, judgment, violence, greed and so forth?
One response could be to grab as much for ourselves, before others do.

Or, as Martin Luther King, Jr. once said, "Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out Hate; only Love can do that."

Way before I even knew that King said this, I was practicing this kind of Love.

My brother would hit me. I knitted him a sweater. He called me ugly. I tutored him in English and French and History.

My father took his anger out on me. I sewed him a silk tie. I painted the family room, so he did not have to.

My mother refused to hear my cries about the abuse. I weeded her garden and did all the family mending.

Yes, to protect myself, I walked away as soon as I was old enough to live on my own-- at about age 18.

But, I never hated them back. Hate would have destroyed me.

Today, I live in a rambling, vintage house-- the kind that I always dreamed of. On my front porch is a trestle table that my husband and I bought at a yard sale. I think we paid about $30 for it. We were hoping that, when we stripped off the many layers of paint, the wood would be fine and well-grained. Instead, it showed itself to be made of lowly pine.

So, I painted the table a green, to match the trim on our house. That Green Table has become "The Giving Table".

People drop off yarn, sometimes from a wife, a sister-in-law or a friend who has passed away. I knit the yarn into hats and scarves for the local shelter. Or, I donate the yarn to knitting groups at the Senior Center, or at the local Middle School. Some hats and scarves have gone to an isolated village in Pakistan, via a friend who runs an international mission. A bundle of baby hats has gone to Haiti.

People drop off empty plastic flower pots. I donate those to a community garden.

People drop off school supplies. I donate those to a city magnet school. Or, these go to a remote village in Africa.

People drop off personal CD players. I donate these to the local hospice.

Once, someone gave me a lighted make-up mirror. But, I rarely wear make-up. So,  I donated it to the city shelter, for women learning to apply make-up in preparation for job interviews.

I NEVER know what will show up on the Green Table.  And, I never know what requests I will get.

This summer, I simultaneously received a request for children' books for the Little Free Library, AND a request to help distribute some children' books that a local church was getting rid of.

Truthfully, there is something mystical going on with this Green Table -- because often, I get a request for something, that is "coincidentally" being donated at that very same time!

A friend tells me that I am "a Light to many".

But this does not make me all that special. All I do is to match bounty with need. This process is FREE.

But, to me, it is essentially Love.

Anyone can do this! Make everything you do an act of Love -- getting up early to (cheerfully) drive your child to school; calling a neighbor to check in with them; assisting someone in the supermarket if they cannot reach an item; smiling even if you feel like frowning; sharing some cookies with someone who does not bake; starting a coupon exchange; mentoring a child; serving coffee after church; attending the concert of a neighbor's child, if their grandparents live far away; shoveling away the snow a little bit past your property line, just because; tossing a newspaper onto a homeowner's porch . . .

These are small things. But taken together, if we all did this, we could light up the World!

(c) Spiritual Devotional 2016. All Rights Reserved.