I am at “Heat Wave”, an auto glass tinting place. The Texas sun is hot so I want to get the car windows darkened a bit in preparation for the summer.
There are three shades of tint to choose from: light, medium and dark. I choose light for the front seat area and medium for the back. Dark is really dark and apparently not approved by the Texas Department of Highways, although I notice a of cars and pick-up trucks are so dark that you cannot see the driver or passengers. Ideal for get-away cars, I would think.
The light is a good compromise–it shields the passengers from the sun, but allows them to see out easily. Others can see in, but only like they are looking at a reflection.
As I thought about this, it reminded me of how important LIGHT is in our lives and how we sometimes need to shield ourselves from it, yet at other times provide ourselves with more of it. Once I go out into the Texas sun, for example (and of course it is not solely the property of Texas), I need sunglasses to shield my eyes and, even in the car, I sometimes need to pull down the sun visor. On days when I leave the car in the sun I need a protective reflective device over the front windshield.
However, I also need lights on my car–headlights to see at night and to warn other drivers of my car in the daytime; back-up lights, fog lights, parking lights, brake lights, dome lights, door entrance lights, tail lights, turn signals and emergency blinkers. I even have lights that show me if I am low on oil or water, if the battery has a problem, or if my seat belt is not fastened. There are lights everywhere–on my speedometer, gas gauge, cruise control, radio, clock, and even a safety back-up monitor. I have no excuse–everything is alight for me.
And yet, if there is too much light, even in the dark, I have problems. Cars coming at me with the headlights on high, bright neon signs, and flashlights in the back seat annoy me. I can’t concentrate with too much light and I can’t see if I don’t get enough. Woe is me, for I am dependent upon light and yet it can distract me.
I am also reminded that without glasses I would not see well at all. I am dependent upon a second set of “eyes” to help me so that I can see reasonably clear into the distance, or even close up. I have had cataract surgery in my left eye, but there is still distortion from astigmatism, an uneven surface on my eye ball that needs correction with an implanted lens.
It is the same with my theology and my thoughts about God and his nature–I can read about them in the Bible and reflect upon them in my mind, but I can’t understand some of them clearly. But neither could the Apostle Paul, who said “For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully…. (1 Corinthians 13:12).
It is like trying to look at the end times and heaven with the aid of a lightning bug or a glowworm. There is just not enough light for our human minds to see and, when we finally do see that light, it will be so enormous and powerful that we will need the grace of God to endure and enjoy it.
But I am encouraged–I will be transported faster than the speed of light into the presence of the one who created light in the first place.