#73 Blocking the Light?

1 John 1:7 But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another,

Garage doors these days are pretty high-tech. They have electric gear and chain driven motors that raise the door for us as we approach with our vehicles. Some of our vehicles even have a built-in home control unit that allows us to program our cars to operate the door.

The other day I came home and parked in the garage. Turned off my Jeep and pushed the button to close the door. The door moves slowly enough that I can usually make it almost to the smaller door just as the garage door is about to close. This particular day though the door came down, got almost to the bottom and then went back up.

The overhead light attached the door motor was flashing which lets you know that the light sensors at the bottom of the door were somehow blocked. Safety is also a concern when you consider a garage door. The doors are heavy enough that they could crush or severely injure a small child or elderly person. So the newer systems have light sensors at the bottom that send and receive a beam of light from one side to the other. When the light path is broken the door motor is automatically reversed and the door will go completely back up.

I have seen the door do this before so I immediately began to look and see what was blocking the light beam. The kids' toys were back away from the sensors. There was nothing lying in the path of the sensors that I could see. My next step was check the alignment of the sensors. Sometimes they get bumped and if they are not aligned they will not work. The sensors have a green light on the side that alight when they are properly aligned. Yes, the green lights were on so what was the problem?

A press of the button sent the door back down again and right as it got the bottom back up it went...again! I was beginning to get frustrated when--as the door reached my eye level--I noticed a small, narrow leaf stuck to the weather seal at the bottom of the door. The melting and re-freezing of the snow allowed the leaf to become wet and freeze to the bottom of the door. That small leaf was just enough to interrupt the flow of the light beam and cause the door's safety feature to trigger. I removed the leaf and the door shut just fine.

In that instant I began to wonder about just how many "little" things get in the way of us receiving light from Christ. Sometimes we get involved in something that seems so small, insignificant, and harmless but without knowing it we allow something to come into our life that slowly but surely separates us from Jesus.

What's blocking your light today? What has crept into your life that keeps you from "operating" as the Lord wants you to? Have you been shut out from the Lord's blessings because of the accumulation of little or big sins in your life? It is my prayer for each of you that you would allow the Spirit of the living God to come into your heart just now and take away all the stuff that keeps you from experiencing God's blessings.

Dear Father,
Thank You for being so amazingly great. We recognize that we need You and Your Spirit to teach us to be faithful and true to You. Please forgive us for letting stuff get in the way of our relationship with You, and please keep the path of light clear that You long to shine upon us. In Jesus' name, Amen.