“The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.” John 1:5

We were asked to write this devotion as a family so I brought it up to my daughters on our way home from an evening activity. I explained to them that we would need to pick a Bible verse and write about what it means to us. They didn’t have any ideas so I mentioned the above verse is one that has been meaningful to me. When our family was dealing with a tragedy, this verse stuck out to me at a Christmas Eve worship service. It reassured me our light, Jesus, was on our side and the darkness we were dealing with would never win.

My older daughter thought about it and said, “That reminds me of something my teacher has shared with our class”. She went on to say her teacher told them their day is like a white sheet of paper. Then you add small black dots on the white sheet of paper. The small black dots represent the negative parts of your day while the white represents the good parts. While we tend to focus on the small black dots, the white or "light" is what we should be focusing on as that is the larger portion of our day and lives.

This verse also reminds me of my favorite inspirational quote. "Too blessed to be stressed!" I have it posted around my office and often remind my husband when he is dealing with frustrations. Stress is so hard on a person mentally and physically. This quote reminds me to count my blessings - my family, our health, our home, friends, God's beauty all around us in all four seasons, our jobs, freedom, our church.....instead of feeling stressed. When frustrations, disappointments, busy schedules, worries, etc....tend to take over our thoughts we need to remember how small they are compared to our blessings.

Prayer: Dear Jesus, Thank You for being our light in the darkness and for all the blessings in our lives. Please help us to remember You will always be there for us and that the darkness will never win. In Your name we pray. Amen.