Turn off the light!

Wednesday, Second Week of Advent

No Difference

Small as a peanut,
Big as a giant,
We're all the same size
When we turn off the light.

Rich as a sultan,
Poor as a mite,
We're all worth the same
When we turn off the light.

Red, black or orange,
Yellow or white,
We all look the same
When we turn off the light.

So maybe the way
To make everything right
Is for God to just reach out
And turn off the light!

"No Difference" by Shel Silverstein, from A Light in the Attic. © Harper Collins, 1981.

So this a poem written for children.  Children understand it.  And if a child is not feeling threatened by the darkness, he/she can feel comforted by the idea that when the light is out there is no judgement or evaluation.  The playing field is equal.  Nobody is the best.  

The light that needs to be turned off is the light that subjects you (and others) to critique.  But sometimes we don't feel worthy of the way God's love trumps the scrutiny of judgement.  When God's light breaks through the darkness, we look around and we find that we are all the same:  beloved in God's eyes.