Walking in Darkness

Spring Snow.  Copyright 2012: singeronthesand

Anyone who claims to live in God's light and hates a 

brother or sister is still in the dark.  It's the person who

loves brother and sister who dwells in God's light and

doesn't block the light from others.  

But whoever hates is...blinded by the darkness.

1 John 2:9-11

The sermon yesterday at the church where I work detailed a new social phenomena of young teens and tweens putting personal videos on Youtube asking, "Am I Pretty or Ugly?"  One such video, posted by a girl who claimed to be 13 at the time, has her stating, "A lot of people call me ugly, and I think I'm ugly.  I think I'm ugly and fat."  Viewed by over 4 million people since the video was posted in 2010, over 100,000 people have left comments - most of which are mean, hateful, and derogatory - calling her an "attention slut" and suggesting that she would be better off dead.  One responder stated:  "You need a hug - around the neck - with a rope!"

You can be sure and certain that at least half [if not a great deal more] of the responses to the video are written by adults.  Who in the world would say such a thing to a young girl - bullied at school, self-esteem in tatters, who turns to the Internet for reassurance of self-worth?  Sadly, it is so easy to hide behind a screen name and spit out things you would never dream of saying face-to-face.  I'm sure there were many who thought the video pitiful and their responses hilarious.

I would never do such a thing, I reassure myself.  But in truth, I am not beyond making a catty remark (in private, to a friend, of course!) about a person/situation that I view as pitiful or ridiculous, thoughtlessly dismissing them as not worth my compassion.  But isn't that the point?  We are all faulty, scarred human beings, looking for love - longing for acceptance.  We all need the milk of human kindness that can only come from a heart flooded with the light of Life.  It is time for all of us to step out of the darkness--even if we are just in the shade--and live in the light of God's love so that we may reflect that light onto everyone around us.