The moon did a disappearing act on me recently.

As I sat eating breakfast, I could see the moon shining brightly through the window. It handily outshone the streetlights, which were still on at that pre-dawn hour.

But slowly, the moon grew dimmer and fainter, although it was still high in the sky.

What had happened to its luminosity?

Had the moon changed in some way?

No, the sun had simply come up!

The sun’s growing brilliance filled the morning sky, causing the moon to appear paler than before. Eventually, I could barely see the moon at all, even though it hadn’t set behind the horizon yet.

This puts me in mind of how we sometimes view our problems.

In the darkness of our difficulties, we often focus on what’s causing us pain. The source of our problems gets our attention, out-competing other factors in our lives.

But if we let the light of Jesus shine on our situation, the truth of His unending love for us can outshine the temporary nature of our problems. Our challenges appear dimmer in the light of His forgiveness, His care for us, and His promise of eternal life.

“Turn your eyes upon Jesus
Look full in his wonderful face
And the things of earth will grow strangely dim
In the light of his glory and grace.”

The truth is, our problems only have as much prominence in our thoughts as we allow them to have. We get to choose how much attention we focus on the difficulties we face.

Most certainly, we can’t simply ignore our problems. There are things we need to do, changes we need to make, and solutions we need to work toward.

But giving too much headspace to worrying about our problems isn’t healthy.

Much better to bring our problems to God in prayer, ask for His guidance as to what actions we should take, but focus most of our attention on His promises, His power, and His everlasting love for us.

I said a few paragraphs ago that the moon was shining that early morning. But that’s simply a turn of phrase: it isn’t scientifically true.

Unlike the sun, which gives off light, the moon merely reflects light. It only “shines” to the extent that light manages to hit it.

It’s the same with our problems. They only burn brightly in our minds to the extent that we allow our attention to be focussed on them.

So let’s focus on Jesus, and let the light of the Son outshine our problems!

“Jesus spoke to the people once more and said, ‘I am the light of the world. If you follow me, you won’t have to walk in darkness, because you will have the light that leads to life.’ ”

John 8:12

© 2022 Lori J. Cartmell. All rights reserved.