What's Blocking the Light?
Pennsylvania Coal Town by Edward Hopper
Although it is daylight, when we look at this painting there is a feeling of loneliness and a life without color. Our homeowner is out raking his tiny yard in what looks like office clothes. Perhaps he has a position of management in this mining town and keeping up appearances is important. Except for the sunshine lighting up the man and his fern everything else seems dead, dark, uninviting, and "close". Most of the sunshine is blocked by the homes. It appears in slivers between the large houses.
The things we own can be the very things that block the light of God in our lives. The abundant, largess of God's love can be hidden behind "things". Possessions and things can block his light making our lives small and dark. It's not wrong to have a home or nice things but when our hearts become more preoccupied with them than God or our neighbors we are left in isolation which is a type of darkness. We are left on our own, tending a tiny plot of grass and suspicious of other people that might touch any of it.
We are meant to have lives of abundance. Jesus says, "I have come that you may have life and have it abundantly." (John 10:10) Is there anything blocking Christ's light in your life? Is your life getting smaller and smaller while you tend to your possessions? God has given us everything so that we can give it away and receive more from Him. If there is anything you can't give away or share it may be blocking the light and leaving you with a small, shriveled, and lonely life.