Let's Leave the Lights on For Someone

Autumn Greetings Everyone!

The weather has been amazing the last few days. I love the cooler temperatures. The cooler days speak of the beautiful season ahead of us. And they are so welcome!

Isn’t it amazing what speaks to us? Most of what I buy at market is something that I feel “speaks” to me. And for each of us, it’s different. Sometimes it haunts me until I figure out the “why” it speaks.

Recently, I told you about a trip we took across Highway 36 up in Northern Kansas. The purpose of the trip was to go to all the garage sales that were along that strip. It started in Saint Joseph Missouri and went all the way to the Northern Kansas border. (400 miles) Of course we didn’t travel that far. We just wanted to see what it was like. We had the most fun just traveling and looking at the topography of the northern area of Kansas and how different it looked then down here in southern Kansas. The fields were so much greener and so lush compared to our drought ridden spaces here.

What fun we had as I loved looking at the fields and going to all the flea markets, the estate sales, garage sales and Flea Markets. But something haunted me all the way through our adventure.

Early in our adventure, I saw a small house, quite dilapidated, but it looked like someone lived there. As I looked more closely at it I saw a beautiful wreath hung on the outside of the house. From a distance, the wreath really looked fresh and full of life as compared to the rest of the house. Why did it make my heart so happy? I kept asking myself why did this house speak so loudly to me when there were so many more beautiful houses along the way? Just as I had seen it then, the recesses of my mind bring it up fresh to me and my heart is still happy when I think of it.

Someone in that house wanted that place to look like there was something going on there and that there was still life in the dwelling. Someone there still had a heart that rejoiced at something beautiful. And even perhaps, they found their own house, dilapidated though it was, as a place of hope for the future, a refuge for people they love and a place that gave them the feeling of belonging and being alive and well, no matter what their health was like.

If I had been like one of my friends, and my husband wouldn’t have thought I was totally crazy, I might’ve wanted to walk up to the door to meet the people that live there. I might’ve been met with a shotgun, or I might’ve been invited in for lemonade or maybe even a cup of tea. I always wonder what’s behind the doors of houses like that., But I knew that someone there was enjoying a season each time they looked at that beautiful wreath against the paint-peeled boards on the house.

I always remember an artist who was known as the “Painter of Light” and what he wrote in one of his books. I frequently think of him when I drive by homes that have light streaming from the windows in the evenings. I never will forget what he said that made him so well known for the light steaming from any where that casts out light.

He told that as a young boy his father left his mother and she had to take jobs to support the family and sometimes would not be able to come home until late. Then as he grew older he would take jobs to help with the income. He would come into his neighborhood and he could see the neighbors lights streaming from the windows. He was so anticipating getting near his home to see if there were lights on. As he would draw nearer and nearer to his home the hope of seeing light burned in his soul for it meant there would be someone there for him.

And isn’t that the way life is? If We know that someone is there for us we can navigate the hard days, the difficulties, the tragedies and the losses that we experience here on earth.

The last few weeks for me have been really hard weeks for me. I’m sure that many of you have had those weeks or you will have them in the future. It was like I needed someone to speak to me. Someone to say I’m here for you. But sometimes we live around people and we don’t even feel we can share our lives so that anyone could even know the heartache, the health issues, or the losses we are feeling.

Maybe we should leave the light on for someone? Maybe just to show we’re there.

I wanted to share a video/song with you that has helped me through these weeks. I don’t mean to have this sound like a sob story, I’m just being truthful with everyone. I know you know that I’m very real and pretty transparent about a lot of my flaws. But this song that I’m going to share with you, has helped me so much even though I cry most every time I listen to it. It’s a good kind of cry.

I hope it blesses you as much as it does me. In the meantime, I plan on getting back to work for you guys and not being mopey and feeling sorry for myself. As you know if you’ve read very much of my blogs you know that I am a woman of faith. Sometimes our faith needs help and someone to help you through the tough times. I Hope you enjoy this as much as I have. It’s powerful.