Rise and Shine

I’ve been thinking lately about how ironic it is that I’d ever be part of organizing a women’s retreat called Rise and Shine. I’ve never been much of a morning person. In fact, I’m not a morning person at all!

When I was growing up I had a good friend named Suzanne. I frequently spent the night at her house. Whenever I did her mom would rush into her room bright and early in the morning, flip on the light and say ever so cheerfully, “Rise and shine!” If we didn’t get up right away her mom would rip the covers off of us and onto the floor. As soon as she left the room Suzanne would crawl down to the end of the bed, eyes still completely closed, to pull the covers back over us. However, her mom always came back. She would barge back in to say, “Wake up, sunshine!” Then, she’d proceed to sing, “You are my sunshine, my only sunshine. You make me happy…” (You know the words, right?!) I remember thinking, “UGH! How annoying!” I just hated it when she did that!

Yet, she was right. We needed to get up before it was too late. She wanted us to get up and get busy doing what we were suppose to be doing that day. Still, it felt so good under those covers. We were so snug and comfortable. Besides, we were still tired and there was still time. We were full of excuses, but the thing is we knew what we needed to do, we just didn’t want to do it. I’m sure her mom didn’t enjoy having to push us so hard to get up.

We, as Christian women are called to rise and shine too. Isaiah 60:1 tells us to: “Arise, shine, let your light shine for the glory of the Lord has risen upon you.”

His glory has risen upon US! Isn’t that amazing? Think about it. If you are a Christian, His glory has risen upon YOU. You have something to share with others.

I’ve heard Christians likened to the moon and God to the sun. As the moon reflects sun in the darkness of night, we reflect the son of God in the darkness of life. Our whole purpose of being here is to shine His light to others. That’s why God created us-to glorify Himself. For some we may be the only son-shine they know. Colossians 4:17 tells us, "...whatever you do or say, let it be as a representative of the Lord Jesus…”

How many times has the Lord wanted to say to us, “Get up, you lazybones!”? (Proverbs 6:6) How often do we choose to stay right where we’re comfortable even though we know we should “get up“? How many times do we make excuses for not “getting up” and shining His light? How many times does He have to nudge (or downright push us) out of our cozy little place? How many times do we miss an opportunity to shine His light because we‘re preoccupied with excuses like we‘re too busy, we‘re too tired, etc?

I don’t know about you, but I want to do better. I don’t want to miss opportunities to shine His light because “my eyes are still closed“ and I‘m too busy staying comfortable. We only get one chance to live this life. Let’s rise up before it’s too late! We need to get busy shining His light to a dark and hurting world! We can do this in our everyday lives. We can start in our own homes!

I am praying, “Teach me your ways, O Lord my God, that I may live according to your truth! Grant me purity of heart, that I may honor you.” Psalm 86:11

P.S. If you're not a Christian, but would like to be, so that you too can have the glory of the Lord rising upon you, you can! If you'd like to know how, I'd love to tell you! Just e-mail me. My e-mail link is on my profile page.