I’m sitting in the swing telling myself I’m not hot but I feel the 93 degrees very well. Late afternoon sun is filtering down the street through the oaks so prettily, kissing golden the tops of the trees and highlighting the leaves in their summer green colors. Penelope didn’t even get up when I walked through the front door. She knows it’s too hot for her to sit in the playpen in a fur coat. She’s got more sense than me!

Something has piqued Fatty the squirrel’s attention. He’s standing up on the sidewalk in the meerkat position and has gobbled so many sunflower seeds he’s shaped like a pear, his big old belly bulging out and resting on his feet. He’s probably getting ready to run the other two squirrels off the bird feeders. Occasionally I let the squirrels enjoy the bird feeders and today was their day. They don’t bother the doves or the cardinals. They all rummage around together on the ground under the bird feeders and happily share the feeders on the poles.

Sunset tonight was subdued but beautiful in its rendering. As Mother Nature brushed her watercolors in soft watermelon pink across the horizon, the sun blazed a rosy red and stepped on the pageant stage dressed in a short fringed dancing dress. Father Sky, casual in starched jeans, white button down collar shirt, wearing well worn, well polished Tacoma cowboy boots, took the hand of the sun and they two-stepped down the horizon turning down both the day’s heat and the day’s light. Soon as Father Sky kissed the sun goodnight, he left to wake the moon and stars. He danced with the stars, caught the moon, and swung them high into the purple night sky canvas.

As twilight called the darkness down the lightning bugs slowly woke and became twinkling stars, dancing in the evening’s gloaming. Watching the little fireflies blink I’m thinking of God and how he’s our light when we’re in darkness. Sometimes the darkness in our lives has to be jet black before we see a pinprick of light. God’s light is hope when things get dark. We have to be still and pray, feeling our way along a path back to the light. “God will tell us the way to go, but then we have to do the walking,” Unknown.

We can be spiritual fireflies for God and shine his light for all to see.

God wants us to let him guide us on our path. He knows the way we should travel and he sees the road ahead. Psalm 139:5 reads, “You have encircled me behind and in front, And placed your hand upon me.” We have to be patient with God’s plan for our life. We have to be obedient and follow him. We’re never in complete darkness, we just have to focus on God. He will never leave us alone when we put our trust in his grace.

Lightning bugs remind us that the small things in life are what matter the most. It’s a simple thought but I think Christians can be a firefly for God, lightning the way for others to come to Jesus. We can be a light in someone’s darkness. One positive message, one little prick of light in the dark, can change a life. Matthew 5:16 says, “In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in Heaven.” We can be spiritual fireflies for God and shine his light for all to see.

“If stars could transcend that pure and heavenly black, to come as God’s lights into our Earthly sphere, perhaps they would be as the firefly, a living poetry.” — Angela Abraham