If this awful news of Robin Williams has taught me anything, it's that darkness lingers at the threshold of every single human life, and darkness is never content to remain a safe distance away, to dance on the perimeter of the human life. Darkness scurries in under the cover of night, infiltrating our minds, hearts and relationships despite our defenses, and seeking a foothold from which it might enlarge its influence in our lives. We may try and cast it out, destroy its influence upon us, but no matter how hard we try, it seems to linger in the shadows, on the perimeter, in long forgotten places, to re-emerge at 'a more opportune time', which is when the Devil decided to return to tempt Jesus after being rebuffed by Jesus in the wilderness.
We like to think of ourselves as strong, but none of us are strong enough on our own to beat back the continual infiltration of darkness. No matter how many resources we may have, be they financial or emotional or relational, we eventually find ourselves weakened, through life circumstances or choices of our own, and over time, if we do not discover others to help us bear the load, we weaken, and no longer able to stand up straight, we begin to forget what the horizon looks like as our heads become lowered to the ground, our eyes become fixated lower and lower until all we can see is the next step, and eventually we become so low, so overburdened by the things we are carrying, we begin to doubt if we can even take the next step, and it begins to be so tempting simply to lie down where we are, to stop moving forward and let the weight and darkness that hammer away at our defenses consume us.
Each and every one of us, I believe, need to bear light for another. The light of love and hope that shines within us needs to be shared, for in so doing we help bear one another's burdens. This is true community, when we stand beside one another and help lift one another's vision back to the horizon, to encourage and support one another in the next step and the possibility that lies beyond that. It's so easy to forget what hope looks like when it is shrouded in the clouds of darkness, when that despair has taken hold of the human heart. We need a brother or sister to remind us, to help us forward, to help shake the mire of hopelessness from our vision.
And when we have been encouraged, we need to remember to share that encouragement to others. Just as we ourselves are in need of ministry, we have a responsibility to one another to be selfless, to minister to others. We do not simply receive, but in a complicated dance that does not always feel natural, we give and take, sharing our resources, sharing our strength, sharing our hope and helping one another go forward in life, acknowledging the reality of the darkness to break in to any of our lives, but pledging to do all we can to beat it back to the perimeter, rallying our defenses to the weakest point, letting our collective care for one another be our strength, just as the Israelites rebuilding the wall in Nehemiah's time were always ready to run and assist the ones who were in danger of being attacked. At the sound of the trumpet, each one was ready to go.
So will we run to one another to share our strength and light? Will we listen well enough to one another to be ready to respond to genuine crises? Will we be willing to sound our own trumpet, to reach out and let another share our burdens? We are all vulnerable and broken in some way, but we need not be ashamed of that, for our brokenness can bring us together and make us stronger if we allow it to be shared.
Revelation promises that in the end, light will conquer and destroy darkness. One day, there will be no darkness left to linger on the periphery, to steal into our hearts and slowly tear down what we seek to build up, to bend our backs with cares to the point that we no longer can see the sun shining in the sky. Christ alone can achieve this victory, but until then, we must allow the light to shine through one another and do everything we can to help one another take the next step in hope.
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