Let there be light

I love light.

I love sunlight, I love candlelight, I love lamplight, I love accent lighting. As soon as I'm up and dressed in the morning, I turn on lamps. I even have some lamps in which I keep compact fluorescent lightbulbs so that I can keep them burning all the time. But in my kitchen/breakfast/office/keeping room, I had a dark corner:

You can see that there are windows on each side of my desk, so there's plenty of natural light during the day. But the evenings are long now, and the dark corner was kind of sad. I have a little lamp on my desk, but otherwise no light except the can lights in the ceiling, which I turn on only when necessary.

Then a few days ago it occurred to me to climb up on my desk and take a look at that space above my cabinets. And guess what I found? That corner cupboard unit is actually three pieces, each mounted to the wall individually. Only the molding at the top of the cabinets goes all the way across. And between each of the individual pieces, there is open space. Just enough space for an electrical cord. So I ran to Home Depot and got a length of rope lighting. I plugged the rope into an extension cord, which I ran down that space and through the cord opening on my desktop. A few minutes of work, and voila! Light!

Then of course it seemed a shame to have that lovely lighted space just begging for some kind of embellishment. So I shopped my house and rounded up with some decorative plates.

The large red one was a TJMaxx clearance purchase. The blue, white, and black plate was a thrift store find. The black and white "life" plate was purchased from Dayspring. The two colored plates on the other side of the center were Pier One sale purchases.

Here's a look when the outside light is dim, but the corner is bright and happy:

I love my new lighted corner! And light in the previously dark corner made me think of what God does in our lives. If we'll let Him, He'll shine light on places we thought were doomed to remain dark. No corner has to remain dark if we invite God to shine His light upon it.

I am grateful for this little object lesson that God taught me. I needed it. And it reminded me of this old hymn. It was written by John Bowring in 1824. I haven't heard it in a long time, but today it's playing in my mind. I thought you might enjoy it, too.

Father and friend, Thy light, Thy love

Beaming through all Thy works we see;

Thy glory gilds the heavens above,

And all the earth is full of Thee.

Thy voice we hear, Thy presence feel,

While Thou, too pure for mortal sight,

Enwrapped in clouds, invisible

Reignest the Lord of life and light.

Thy children shall not faint nor fear,

Sustained by this delightful thought:

Since Thou, their God, art everywhere,

They cannot be where Thou art not.