My Dark Place
As August rolled into September, my excitement and anxiety grew. I was ready to get back into the classroom and do what I love to do, but I knew it would be a time of transitions too. I thought that I would struggle this year with trying to continue with my duties as a mother and hold down a very challenging job. I thought I might struggle with the content of my classes, since I’m teaching things I’ve never taught before (as college level courses too!). I thought I might be drained by the demanding schedule….but I never thought I might be challenged spiritually.
I don’t know why, but I kind of forgot that I was walking into a very dark place when I opened the doors to our high school and walked down the crowded hallways. This week, as I side stepped around girls flirting with boys and dodged guys twice my size goofing off, I suddenly realized that many students in that busy hallway were lost children of God. It was the darkest hallway I’ve walked down in a long time. I saw kids grasping for life in trite relationships, in drugs and alcohol, in popularity and in the accolades of success.
They act like they know it all and they’ve got it all together, but they are walking around in darkness. I don’t think adults are much different and if we opened our eyes, I bet all of us could think of a dark place where God has asked us to shine. 
It’s so easy to get caught up in the daily routines of our jobs that we forget our eternal purpose. Yes, it’s my job to grade math papers and it’s my job to effectively prepare educational lessons and it’s my job to train students to reach high expectations, but it’s my duty to be a light in each of those jobs. It’s my calling to be a light in this dark place; this place where God has brought me.
The thing about dark places is that we can easily lose our way and get disoriented if our own light is dim and instead of sharing our light with those around, we start complaining about how dark it is. We realize that it’s dark because of all the sin we see and we notice how few people seem to share our perspective on life (our heavenly perspective), but we often forget that our place in the darkness is not to curse the darkness, but to bring light into it.
So, what’s your dark place? Is it your neighborhood, your children’s school, your grocery store, or your workplace? I pray that you and I will shine brightly with God’s love and grace in these dark places, that our lights will elluminate the darkness and lead the way to our Savior. And may our eyes remain trained on the True Light so we don’t get ourselves lost in those dark places.
Amen to that Heather – very powerful and truthful! Yes, my workplace is not very light either, but I know that if I let His light shine through, I can make a difference by smiling and showing compassion.
Thank you for the reminder to not complain about the darkness, but to let Him shine through us.
HI Heather,
This post stirred me. My daughter is 14 years old and her high school is a dark place. I look around at those kids and hear some of the stories my girl tells me about what her friends are dealing with and I grieve. I also worry about my kid and her wobbly light trying to shine in that place.
But, Greater is He that is in me and my daughter….. She still is able to give out a light. She is much better at it than I was at that age.
Thank you for giving of yourself to those kids. The Lord needs you there. Great post. Hugging you, Lynn
Heather, thank you for being light in that dark place. You described it so well.
Light dispels darkness, but Satan tries to reverse that by convincing us to be repulsed and afraid of the darkness so we don’t enter into those dark areas. Instead we choose to band together with other repulsed and fearful Christians and sing “Kum By Ya.”
I minister to at risk teen girls and pregnant teens. I also counsel abused women and children. That’s my dark place where I attempt to shine His light. A place I understand, because I’ve been in situations similar to many of these women.
Send more light bearers, Lord! Convict them. We need more light. Forget about conserving energy.
Blessings.
I too have such a burden for this age group of kids. One of my grandchildren is in high school and another will join him in a couple of years. It is truly frightening sometimes the stories I hear. I thank God that there are women like you who are willing to shed and share their light with these lost kids. I pray that you are effective and that there might be many more who are willing to be used. God bless you as you go about this…Debbie
Wonderful post.
So glad that those kids have you as a light in the darkness even if they don’t realize it at first.
Thank you for sharing.
Amen! Heather, I am so dumbstricken with the brightness of light that you had brought and all I could say is Amen! Amen! Lord, help us to be the LIGHT in all those dark areas where you have intended us to be the Light. Amen.