This Little Light Of Mine
When I was in high school, there was a science room off our classroom, one of those danky dark holes with shelves covered with dusty specimen jars of ancient pig fetuses. At any rate, it was in a basement classroom and it had no windows, so if you closed to door from the inside with the light off, it was as cloe to absolute darkness you could achieve. Being in a very small school in a very small town, we used to enjoy the sensory deprivation experience just for kicks.
On one suck well wasted moment, something occurred to me. We had recently been studying the science of light and its relationship to colour. Colour, we learned, is the perception of the frequency (or wavelength) of light. So I asked:
“Is my shirt red?”
After a moment of silence, where I am sure my friends were considering my lose of sanity in this cool purgatory, they all responded that my shirt, was indeed red. It had been red when we came in, so unless I changed my shirt in the dark (a prospect not too well received by the girls in the room), it was, of course, still red. However, I disagreed.
“No, it can’t be red. If colour is a perception of light, and there is no light here, how could it be red?” Another moment of silence.
“But the shirt,” said a friend, “By its very nature, is designed to reflect light so that we perceive it as red. Therefore, it is red by nature” I imagined him smirking confidently at his own cleverness, but I wasn’t satisfied.
“You are talking about potential and perception,” I countered, “It doesn’t actually become red until there is light, even just a little bit of light. Right now, here in the dark, it’s black. My shirt is not red.”
“Whoa…” We all soaked in this revelation in the cool, close darkness. The conversation drifted from there (such the question if what you perceive as green is the same as I perceive as green, but that is another story altogether).
Recently, as I remembered this conversation, I got thinking about sin and its impact on humanity. We were created in the image of God, but when we sinned, that image became cracked. As I see it, sin cut us off from the light of God. We were created to reflect the glory of God, but sin seperates us from His perfect light. Now, the question, does it completely cut us off. I think not.
I am not suggesting that are not in need of God’s grace and forgiveness. Rather, I believe that, as all things are have their being in God, His light can never be completely cut off from us. As move closer and closer to Him, he colours of His image, created in us, become clearer, sharper, richer, truer. Until the day we see Him face to face, we see Him, reflect Him… well, like through a dim glass.
Regardless, we must never dminish God and His glory, by denying the intrinsic, intentional image of God created in all of us. In the words of St. Maximus the Confessor:
We become by grace what God is by nature.
Nothing too profound, but it has been on my mind.
Nice post Jamie. And a cool analogy. Was wondering about the shirt though. Doesn’t something that reflects red mean that it absorbs all the other colours in the spectrum, at least for the human eye? That’s another thing to consider. The human eye is only one of many possible perceptors in the spectrum of EM waves. It’s interesting that in order for us to make sense of our perceptions, we have to filter most of what’s going on, out. Now here’s one to boggle your brain: does that make what we see real? Or is it a representation? And where does that leads us…
Kenny,
I actually thought about developing that aspect of things. Colour is a combination of light, refracting/reflecting colours in the spectrum and, as you point out, in the eye of the perceiver. Perhaps, God being the ultimate Perceiver gives us meaning by seeing in us the colour that would otherwise be empty and grey without Him.
Peace,
Jamie
Interesting and good. I love St. Maximus’ quote.
Interesting that we are light in the Lord. To be lights for those in darkness. Surely not only to show their kindred brokenness, but also their kindred special bearing of God’s image.
Thanks for the great picture and stirring of thought.
Ted,
Very well said.
Peace,
Jamie
Hope-filled thoughts, Jamie. Sadly, many people shun the light and choose to live in the darkness (JN 3:19-21; 1JN 1:5-2:9), yet even there… there is no escaping the One who IS the Light, nor can one completely erase the light within — part of the <i>imago Dei</i> everyone carries.
Shine on, friend!
Chris,
Great references, thanks!
Peace,
Jamie
Hey Jamie…I tried explaining something to this effect to my wife one day…you know the whole perseption of colour. Take the colour: green. What if by my perception it is red and yours it is yellow, but we know the color to be green…interesting…
Ryan,
Tell me about it. Whenever I bring it up, someone tries to go about there is a way of PROVING that we all perceive it the same way. NEGATIVE. I love it when it short circuits someones brain thinking about it.
Peace,
Jamie
I mentioned this to my 7 year old and my 17 year old babysitter. My daughter said it would be black. My babysitter said it was red. I asked my daughter why and she said if it was a pitch black room than it would be pitch black, there wouldn’t be any light. I was just astounded. Gotta love kids understanding!
DAWN
i got excited because i thought you were talking about pink floyd. but i guess talking about god and humanity and how we’re not as depraved as everybody tells us is just as good.
DAWN,
I have the same experience every time I have open question time at Bible camp. I am continually astounded at the wisdom and insight of children.
Peace,
Jamie
Josh,
Sorry to disappoint. As you say, though, our being not totally depraved is a good thing too. A close second? (wink)
Peace,
Jamie