I know.
You thought this was going to be a touching, heartfelt story about how God lights a path for us in the darkness. I understand that, given the title and all.
But, no. This is a story about that time Scarlette stole my flashlight.
I mean, that is true of God but it is also true that I really needed that flashlight.
What you may not know about me is that I live in an area of the South known as Tornado Alley. I am deathly afraid of tornadoes so don’t ask my why I still live here. I do not even know. I ask myself this same question every time I am huddled under a mattress in the basement as the sirens go off and the newscaster is urging me to take cover.
(He is always way too late on that advice. I start ducking and covering when it looks like it might possibly rain maybe tomorrow.)
Some people call the back room in our basement the “playroom” but really its main purpose is to serve as my Tornado Safety Room. Sure it houses toys and a few musical instruments that Mommy relegated to the one place in the house where noise doesn’t carry (and a heartfelt thank you to the person who gave my child a drum) but really its function is to provide me peace of mind in case of a tornado.
When I was eight years old our house was hit by a tornado and I still have very vivid nightmares about that day, huddling in the basement with my family as the trees crashed down and trapped us.
That’s why I keep a stash of flashlights, battery powered radios, water bottles, and protein packed snacks next to a stack of blankets and spare flip flops in the basement. In case I ever get trapped in it. This is equally neurotic and logical.
I also keep an excessive amount of flashlights stashed around the house, in case I ever need to make my way to my Tornado Safety Room in the dark. This is just good planning. My family likes to mock me for my overabundance of flashlights, to which I like to say “No one lights a lamp and puts it under a basket, but rather on a lampstand, and it gives light for all who are in the house” (Matt. 5:15).
My flashlight obsession is biblical.
(“If by biblical you mean, ‘of Biblical proportions’ then yes,” said my BFF.)
Something that you should know about Scarlette is that she enters a room like Kramer from Seinfeld. She flings the door open and throws her whole body forward with an incredible amount of enthusiasm. That’s how the hole in the wall got there, because at some point she removed the door stop (I don’t know why she removed the door stop or what she did with it) and then flung herself through the doorway with enough force to cause the doorknob to go right through the sheetrock.
Later my husband asked Scarlette to return the flashlight he had seen her sneaking out of my drawer earlier that day.
And that is when we learned that Scarlette had turned the flashlight on and then promptly dropped it down the hole in the wall.
(Actually come to think of it, that might be what she did with the doorstop.)
First I worried that it might burn the house down and spent a good amount of time fretting about that until my husband assured me that we did not need to spray the fire extinguisher into the wall.
(I’m still not sure that his assessment of that situation was entirely accurate.)
And then I thought about that trapped beam of light just stuck down between the studs of the walls until the batteries burned out and how it seemed like such a waste of a perfectly good flashlight.
Sort of like lighting a lamp and putting it under a basket.
Every day as I peeked in to see if the light was still shining the more I felt like that little flashlight wedged between the bones of my house was a symbol, a reminder of what the Word whispers to us.
I love the way The Message phrases that verse in Matthew:
“Here’s another way to put it: You’re here to be light, bringing out the God-colors in the world. God is not a secret to be kept. We’re going public with this, as public as a city on a hill. If I make you light-bearers, you don’t think I’m going to hide you under a bucket, do you? I’m putting you on a light stand. Now that I’ve put you there on a hilltop, on a light stand—shine! Keep open house; be generous with your lives. By opening up to others, you’ll prompt people to open up with God, this generous Father in heaven.”
This is my prayer, in my life and my writing: that by opening up to others I will prompt people to open up with God.
Because I know the hope that light brings.
(But no one tell Scarlette that her shenanigans happen to be filling my soul with scriptures.)
This is an excerpt from my new e-book Hold Tight: Embracing Hope and Humor in the Everyday, which is available for a limited time exclusively when you pre-order my new book Anchored: Finding Hope in the Unexpected. Anchored is available at most major retailers! Just submit your pre-order receipt here and you’ll receive the Hold Tight e-book featuring pieces by yours truly as well as contributors Jessica Turner, Courtney DeFeo, Jessie Weaver, Christin Ditchfield, Dawn Camp, Kristi James, Joanne Kraft, Michaela Evanow and Molly Huggins!)
You’ll also receive your choice of a physical print from the 3 options below from talented artist, Jessalyn Bray at Flax and Wool Designs! Your e-book will be sent to your inbox right away so you can start reading while you wait for Anchored + your physical art print to arrive in your mailbox! ♥
