Light in the Storm…

As a kid, I was always drawn to lighthouses. I loved daydreaming about being surrounded by water, enjoying the peace and quiet, and living completely alone with no chaos, and riding out the storms that came my way. (Can you tell I was raised by an alcoholic?).

For years, I collected replicas of lighthouses throughout the United States until I ran out of room to display them. Traveling with Celebrate Recovery gave me the opportunity to see many of these lighthouses up close!

There is a story I love that I read in Guardians of the Lights by Elinor de Wire about Mount Desert Rock off the coast of Maine. The location lived up to its name. The grounds were monotonous, cold, and desolate and there was no greenery; nothing grew there.

One day, the lighthouse keeper was returning from running errands on the mainland, and he was excited to be bringing his wife a special gift—a barrel of soil! Wow! Talk about romantic; the guy literally brought her a bunch of dirt! But then he gave his wife another parcel. Hundreds of tiny seeds were added to her present.

Day after day, the lighthouse keeper’s wife packed the soil into the crevices in Mount Desert Rock and then carefully planted the seeds soaking them with water from the cistern. By summer, passing sailors were astounded to see the vibrant variety of colors of the flowers covering the island. The landscape had been transformed!

The storms that came in the fall destroyed what became known as “God’s Rock Garden”, but every spring the lighthouse keeper’s wife replanted precious seeds often brought by sailors passing by.

For us, no matter what storms, chaos, struggles, hurts, hang-ups and habits we are facing, when we put our faith and trust in Jesus Christ, He transforms our lives into something brand new and beautiful.

John 8:12, “When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”