“No one, when he has lit a lamp, covers it with a vessel or puts it under a bed, but sets it on a lampstand, that those who enter may see the light. For nothing is secret that will not be revealed, nor anything hidden that will not be known and come to light. Therefore take heed how you hear. For whoever has, to him (more) will be given; and whoever does not have, even what he seems to have will be taken from him.” (Lk 8: 16-18)
It is important, the Lord is telling me here, not only “that” I hear His word, but “how” I hear it. God’s word truly sheds light on my life, even when I don’t quite understand it, when I receive it with faith and gratitude. He calls me gratefully to hear His word and “keep” it (Lk 11: 28), awaiting how and when He “reveals” and brings to “light” that which was “hidden” or not understood by me before. When I “have” a grateful and faithful heart, trusting God, I am able to recognize the opportunities He’s sending me, because gratitude tends to attract “more” blessings. But when I “do not have” faithful gratitude, then I tend to be blind even to that which I “seem to have,” – and thus what I “seem to have” is “taken away from me” or obscured by ingratitude and self-centered fear. Thus many people who seem to have everything still manage to be unhappy.
So, “Let us attend!” – I say to all my senses today, that I may both see and trust whatever God has to teach me today, through the people, situations, and anything else He brings my way. And let me be grateful for all of it, because life is short, and I might as well spend it as a brightly-lit lamp, rather than one collecting dust under a bed.
