Sitting in the yard on a late summer evening, my toddler, Seth, saw a lightning bug. Relating the light on the bug to the flashlight he had received for Christmas, he took it upon himself to rename the bugs "flashlight bugs."

Climbing on my lap, he asked, "Mama, where are those bugs' batteries?" I brushed him off with a rub on the head.

He leaned over, putting his cheek to mine. With his finger he pointed as if he was trying to focus me on his level. Then he said, "Looka, you see the light?" I shook my head, acknowledging the light.

Once again Seth asked, "Where are their batteries?"

I finally decided to play along with him and told him, "I guess their battery is Jesus." Seth loved the idea.

Later that night he returned from the porch, pulling me by the hand shouting, "Mama, Mama, come looka the flashlight bugs got more of Jesus. They are a lot brighter now."

What an object lesson for Christians! The flashlight bugs had the same amount of light. The only thing that had changed was circumstances and I must say they fulfilled their purpose. the darker the sky, the brighter their light would shine. Dark skies in our lives will come and they do. Will we fulfull our purpose? Do we let the light shine in us shine so those watching can see that Jesus is the battery?

Sometimes it is difficult when summer returns and I no longer have Seth to sit and watch the flashlight bugs, so now I sit alone and look for the brightest one and smile for that one which has the best battery. Are you like the lightning bug? As things get darker in your life do you shine brighter and brighter Do you have more and more of Jesus as circumstances change in your life? Wow! "A little child shall lead them," one writer wrote.

May we become as this little child and shine brighter and brighter in a world that is full of darkness. -- Unknown