A Shining Light

A Shining Light

Now you have light from the Lord. So live as people of light! For this light within you produces only what is good and right and true.

Ephesians 5:8-9

My friend Andrea leads a Moms in Prayer group that meets on Tuesdays to pray for their children, other students, teachers, coaches, and staff at several local elementary schools. They pray for their kids to have good friends, that they would reach out to include students who need friends, and that they would shine God’s light to those around them.

Each fall, the prayer group delivers bagels, cream cheese, and coffee to five local schools, with a note saying who they are and that they’ve committed to praying for the school and its staff and students. Two years ago, on the day they delivered bagels, the women asked if they could pray for any of the office staff. Two women came forward in tears, asking for prayer for specific things in their own lives. One of them said, “No one has ever asked to pray for us before. Thank you.” The group of moms were able to pray in that school, that day, with two women who were truly struggling.

About a week later, Andrea received an e-mail from the principal at one of the elementary schools they had visited saying how grateful she was to know that there was a group of moms praying for the school and everyone in it. She said she was in tears at the kindness a group of women could display—even through something as simple as bagels. Andrea and the other moms have received countless thank-yous over the past few years from staff members who said they never realized how much a simple, thoughtful gesture and the knowledge that people were praying for them could help brighten their days.

Just as Andrea and the other moms pray for their children to be a light at school, their kindness and intentional prayer for the staff at their local schools provides a shining example too. We’re called to live as people of light, as this group demonstrates. In what ways can you shine the light of kindness into the lives of those around you?

—Kristin

— Today’s Act of Kindness —

Pray or do some other kind act for the children and staff at a local school.