Shine your light, like a sparkler

Photo by Cristian Escobar on Unsplash

“In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.” — Matthew 5:16

I truly appreciate the sights and sounds of every holiday, but I LOVE the Fourth of July. Everything about it.

The warm weather. The celebration. The swimming and picnic food. The booming fireworks. Yet there’s an often-overlooked component of the holiday that relates beautifully to our Christian life: Sparklers.

We must be more like sparklers.

It’s OK to light your own with matches, but there’s something special, something truly exhilarating, about igniting a friend’s as you touch your sparkler to theirs. It feels sort of like this thought from theologian Albert Schweitzer. “In everyone’s life, at some time, our inner fire goes out. It’s then burst into flame by an encounter with another human being. We should all be thankful for those people who rekindle the inner spirit.”

As we enter this new month with high hopes and big dreams, may that phrase be our constant companion. We don’t have to be extraordinary. We don’t need to have a booming voice. We don’t have to illuminate an entire stadium.

Just allow the light of Christ to shine through you. Right where you are.

A light who sparkles and shines in an often dark world. A light who reaches out to others. A light who ignites their beautiful flame. So they can go and do the same.

“True holiness,” pastor Nicky Gumbel writes, “is making others feel more alive than when you first encountered them.”

We may get burned a few times, here and there. But the lasting glow will be well worth it.

(Tim Kolodziej is the author of this piece and founder of EnspireU.com. When he’s not behind a laptop, he can be found inside a gym helping young athletes create their own unique future — one rep at a time. Click here to connect with him by email.)