Reflect God’s light

Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven. (Matthew 5:16)

 The other evening, my wife and I watched the sunset from our terrace, and we stayed until stars came out. As usual, the evening star was the first to appear. An hour or so later, it was still the brightest light in the sky on this moonless night, its steady gleam easily outshining the twinkling competition.
 The evening star had an unfair advantage, of course, since it is actually the planet Venus, masquerading as a star. Like the moon, it emits no light but merely reflects light from the sun.
 It struck me that if the moon and Venus can beam that brightly, as dull-surfaced and void of light as they are in themselves, I need not worry so much about my own spiritual reflective index—my degree of goodness or godliness, as perceived by myself or others. All I really have to do is be there to reflect God’s light when He shines on me. That realization doesn’t give me license to let myself go and become a spiritual slob, but it’s liberating to know I don’t have to try to appear to be something I’m not.
 I may not be the most brilliant, reflective surface, but His light is sufficiently bright to make me one of His stars. —David Bolick [1]

 By contemplating the light radiant on the face of the Risen Christ, you will learn to live as "children of the light and children of the day" (1 Th 5:5), and in this way you will show that "the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true. —Pope John Paul II

[1] Activated This Little Light of Mine