Following on from last week’s TFTD about rocks, this Thought also involves rocks.
The seawall on the coastal path south of Port Macquarie has paintings on the rocks. Most of these appear to be personal memorials to loved ones. However I came across this rock with the inscription “maybe you’re the lighthouse in someone else’s storm.”
That got me thinking, how can we be the lighthouse to someone else?
A lighthouse is built on areas of the coastline where there is potential danger. It acts as a warning. The light helps to direct ships to safer waters. It also helps to act as a landmark, helping a ship identify its location.
A lighthouse continuously shines a light out into the dark night sky. It may also have a foghorn so that in stormy and foggy weather sound will help to act as a warning against danger.
We may be the lighthouse to others by being present in the storms of others’ lives. Helping to steer them away from danger, not in a judgemental way but by coming alongside them in their time of need, consistent and reliable.
The thing that struck me with the words on the rock were that it inferred that the person might not know they are the lighthouse in someone else’s storm. We do not know who we influence. A lighthouse does not know which ships are saved by it’s light. It simply keeps shining out in the dark.
So, too, we can shine out in the dark, and be witnesses to our faith by helping others weather the storms of life.