We Need More Light Around Here

I've had the same cubicle at work for two years now.

My desk is located in a sort of dead spot beneath the overhead fluorescent lights.
The direct light is over to the left and right of where my cube is.
No big deal for the most part - I've adjusted to it - but there have been times when I simply wanted  more light.

Then I went on a series of business trips.
On the days in between, when I returned to the office, I saw a lot of cube-moving activity all around my area. It seems that they are doing some renovation in one part of the building, so they had to temporarily move an entire section of people over into the vacant cubes dotted throughout my area.
Even for adults, there is a certain camaraderie to temporarily 'setting up camp' in a different area, and I noticed that this group stayed cheerful and positive about the added distraction to their daily work.

This week I returned to my cube after another travel week away.
Something was different.  The atmosphere around my work area was noticeably different.
Pleasantly different.
There was more light!

These new folks had swept into the area and determined that many of the overhead fixtures had aged tubes or ballasts. They had immediately brought it to the attention of the facilities team and literally brought new light into our midst.

I'm surprised at how much this one change seemed to please me.
I had no idea what a difference it would make. And I had no idea why I had simply gone along with the dull shadows for two years!  I had simply adjusted and "settled."

I immediately paid more attention to this traveling group of positive people who had brought the change. I looked at name tags. Asked about their work. And I thought more and more about why they had thought to bring change, and I had assumed change was not possible. That I had simply forgot and put up with it.

Isn't that what missionaries have been trying to do for centuries - and to great success?
I have a friend from work who sold her home two years ago, took a leave of absence, and moved to southeast Africa. In the pictures she shares, I see her joy and light in the midst of the children she now helps. Somehow she believed that those children did not have to simply endure the shadows of that region's poverty and physical assaults. I would never have imagined someone could go in and make such a difference in such a short period of time.

But then, I didn't think to help bring light to the 8x8 area of my own work cube.
We can't assume that people want to live in the darkness of this world's spiritual doldrums.
And we have to realize that many people simply assume there is nothing better.
How would they know - unless energized, positive people come in and help with tangible actions?
You don't have to go to southeast Africa to bring Light to where you live and work.

John 8:12
"When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life."

What do you believe?