The Upper Room Daily Devotionals in Nashville, Tennessee, United States "Eternal Light" for Wednesday, 15 February 2017 with Scripture: John 1:1-18

The Upper Room Daily Devotionals in Nashville, Tennessee, United States "Eternal Light" for Wednesday, 15 February 2017 with Scripture: John 1:1 In the beginning was the Word,
    and the Word was with God,
and the Word was God.
2     He was with God in the beginning.
3 All things came to be through him,
    and without him nothing made had being.
4 In him was life,
    and the life was the light of mankind.
5 The light shines in the darkness,
    and the darkness has not suppressed it.
6 There was a man sent from God whose name was Yochanan. 7 He came to be a testimony, to bear witness concerning the light; so that through him, everyone might put his trust in God and be faithful to him. 8 He himself was not that light; no, he came to bear witness concerning the light.
9 This was the true light,
    which gives light to everyone entering the world.
10 He was in the world — the world came to be through him —
    yet the world did not know him.
11 He came to his own homeland,
    yet his own people did not receive him.
12 But to as many as did receive him, to those who put their trust in his person and power, he gave the right to become children of God, 13 not because of bloodline, physical impulse or human intention, but because of God.
14 The Word became a human being and lived with us,
    and we saw his Sh’khinah,
the Sh’khinah of the Father’s only Son,
    full of grace and truth.
15 Yochanan witnessed concerning him when he cried out, “This is the man I was talking about when I said, ‘The one coming after me has come to rank ahead of me, because he existed before me.’”
16 We have all received from his fullness,
    yes, grace upon grace.
17 For the Torah was given through Moshe;
    grace and truth came through Yeshua the Messiah.
18 No one has ever seen God; but the only and unique Son, who is identical with God and is at the Father’s side — he has made him known.
-------
When Jesus spoke . . . 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.”[John 8:12 (NIV)]
Honey bees navigate by the position of the sun. I thought of this while sitting in our tent one night, watching a trapped bee trying to get back to its hive the only way it knew how. But it was dark outside; the brightest light the bee could see was our lantern. It buzzed around the top of the tent, flying toward our hanging light again and again — sometimes crashing into it, sometimes veering away at the last second. Maybe the bee mistook the light for the sun which would have helped it find the way back to the hive.
It’s easy to watch this scene and think,
What’s that bee doing?
or
That’s the wrong light!
But how often do we humans follow the wrong light and trust it to get us where we want to go? How often do we trust money, family, or power and think that it will get us where we need to be, instead of trusting God as our guide? When everything seems dim, it’s easy to trust in the first light we see — something that makes us feel safe or more in control again. But God is the only one who can help us out of the darkness and guide us to true freedom.
Read more from the author, here.
"More from Alina Kanaski"

It’s amazing how often the little things are the ones that remind me of God: a sunset, a flower growing in a sidewalk crack, a smile, a bumble bee flying around at night. God is so unimaginably huge, it can be hard to imagine glimpsing God in a few words in a book or in the unexpected gift of chocolate just when it’s needed.
And it’s so easy to forget to look.
I saw the bumble bee that I mention in today's meditation while on a mission trip; I was staying at a campground with about 10 other people, and we were there to get to know people and talk about God with them. We were doing devotions together every day. We were on the lookout for God, and I saw God all over: in the view of the mountains that surrounded the campground, in the face of the woman who lent me a bathing suit, in my alone time every day, in walks, in playing basketball and volleyball with strangers. In bumble bees, flowers, stones, and falling while riding a bike for the first time in years. It was easy to remember to look; I knew why I was there--I was living with people who loved God too and we spent time talking about it every day.
Everyday life isn’t like that. It’s not new and shiny; it’s not daily group devotions and spending all day thinking about and talking about God, not for most of us. Not for me.
It’s going to work and coming home; it’s doing the dishes and doing laundry and getting gas; it’s squeezing in the things you love if you’re lucky and not looking around because there’s too much to do. It’s routine, day after day after day; it’s ordinary and exhausting and repetitive.
And it’s so easy to forget to look for God.
But God is in your everyday, just as much as God is there when you’re on a mission trip or vacation or mountaintop experience. The glimpses are there to see. We just have to look.[Alina Kanaski, Check out Alina's blog: http://alinawrites.wordpress.com.]
The Author: Alina Kanaski (Arizona, USA)
Thought for the Day: Today I will follow the true light that comes from God.
Prayer: Dear God, help us to follow your light, the true light of Jesus Christ. In his name we pray. Amen.
Prayer focus: Beekeepers

-------