Let There Be Light

I don’t think that most of us really consider the importance of this statement.  After all, light is just there, something to be taken for granted, something that we’ve all had, all of our lives, unless we don’t have the gift of sight.  But even the sightless have much to be grateful for in light, for light is the very essence of all that we are–virtually everything that we eat, for example, begins as light making its way to the earth from the sun.  Without that light, we would have no nutrients at all to keep us alive.

But light gives us so much more.  Colors are simply the way that light reflects on different kinds of surfaces, and colors are one of the most important elements of our lives.  They can cheer us up when we’re down, and they can mellow us out when we’re feeling stressed.  Artists use them to create their artwork, and if it weren’t for the light that hits that work, it would mean nothing to any of us.

Light gives us warmth, too.  Not so much in the very far north in the middle of winter, but it does bring higher temperatures that make the cold less intense.   It allows us to function and to go places through difficult terrains, for it’s the light that helps us to see where we’re going.  We’ve even learned how to make light through fire and through the use of electricity, and that allows us to do things during times when previously we wouldn’t have been able to do anything at all.

If there’s something in this world that we all share an incredible debt to, then it’s light.  Without light, none of us would even be alive, and none of us would have the chances to accomplish things with our lives.  “Let there be light,” God said, and one of the most important prerequisites to life was created.  I wish sometimes that we all could appreciate it just a bit more than we do, for then we might see the common thread that light contributes to all of our lives, all the time.