Can Darkness Destroy Light?

Yes’m we finally did make it to the barn, although I am afraid our shoes, and even our garments, will never be as lovely as before. Mr. Kerosene Lamp beamed kindly down at us and asked, “Are you lost, girls? May I help you with anything?”

                Close up he looked so big and handsome that both of us were smitten with shyness. Finally Anastasia said, “We just wanted to look at the lamps.”

                “Go right ahead. You will find them busy as work all over the place.”

                And sure enough we did. The barn sure was rustic! It was far less attractive, esthetically speaking, than our mansion, but there was hominess about it that I had never sensed in the coldly elegant house were we dwelt. All the lamps were busy at work; some were assisting dairy maidens, or those that were feeding chickens, or a suckling lamb that had lost her mother; or some squealing, grunting piglets. I notice one smudgy lamp was even beside a flaxen haired girl who held a lapful of kittens. The mother cat was nearby lapping up a bowl of milk.

       “All these lights are so useful,” I murmured, trying to swallow the lump in my throat, “and so beautiful. There is such a cheery and comforting glow surrounding each one of them.”

                Anastasia agreed. “Isn’t it marvelous how far one light can penetrate the darkness? “

                I nodded. “Yes, but look at the far distant corners where the shadows like thick and deep—"

                “There is not enough light,” we chorused tremulously.

"And yet all this darkness can not smother the light of even one flame," I mused, half to myself.

                We both fell silent while gazing at the active workers. “The lamps can hardly be seen,” Anastasia murmured.

                “Because the light is so radiant.” I observed.

                “Without their lights they would be quite ordinary and without value,” Anastasia added in a low voice, although no one was paying any attention to us.

                “And to think I thought my apparel was so glorious.  It is pathetic compared to the glow within those unpretentious lamps.”

                It felt like something broke within me. “I would far rather be plain and ordinary on the outside and useful, then be just an ornament to gaze at once in a while.”

                Anastasia nodded mutely.

                It seemed like all the lamps were finished their jobs at the same time and clustered in the center aisle in preparation to leave for the night. I was thrilled with how wonderful the glow just in front of me was.

                Not wanting to be left in the dark, we slipped in with them, but I didn’t feel like talking.

                For the first time in my young life I realized the importance of fire. In the house we didn’t feel needed because of all the artificial light, but out here in the darkness the flames were of great value. I wanted to get converted and just be a lamp for the Master to use. The End