After weeks of heartening sunshine, April showers have finally arrived and our skies are overcast and cloudy at present.
Sunshine can be a powerful restorative, bathing our surroundings in light, and many people are powerfully affected by the weather and the amount of sunshine we can see. Moods are often lifted by sunny, bright skies, and even lockdown seemed more bearable when there were blue skies overhead!
John tells us that Jesus is the Light of the world (John 8:32) and that ‘in him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind.’ (John 1:4) No matter what darkness – physical or spiritual – which surrounds us, ‘the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.’ (John 1:5) God is himself light and in him there is no darkness at all. (1 John 1:5)
We have John 1:5 printed in the foyer of our church building alongside a painting representing blazing light. This light is not just the tremulous flickering of a candle; it is the scorching, blazing, brilliant light which can never be extinguished.
I once visited Malta in March to celebrate my 50th birthday, leaving clouds and drizzle in the UK to arrive to blazing, dazzling sunshine that made me squint and blink. I’d never seen sunshine that bright in March in my life. The light of Jesus is so much brighter.
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