You Light Up My Life

Have you ever seen a light box?

I first saw one when I went to work at a small weekly newspaper. It was a large wooden box with an opaque glass top. Inside the box, a bright light bulb illuminated the glass surface, allowing a person to trace designs or make accurate cuts between small lines of newsprint.

The box was portable, usually placed on top of a regular rectangular table and the top of the light box was angled like a draftsman's table to make it easier for a person to work on it. Knowing it would make a good addition to my paper crafting tools, I purchased a plastic version of a light box several years ago.

I frequently use it to dry emboss designs on the cards I create. By taping a brass stencil to the lighted top of the box and placing my sheet of card stock on top of it, the light underneath shines through the design on the stencil. Using a stylus, I am able to trace the shapes on the card stock, creating a raised design. It also works to copy patterns or pictures for a focal point on my cards.

It is the light within the box that allows the design to be seen more clearly through a second sheet of paper. Without that light, I frequently struggled to make copies. Plain and simple, as Christians, it is God's light within us that allows others to see His design in our lives. That light shines from the inside out, illuminating the intricate lines of His design to shine through so others might "copy" the pattern for themselves.

God, Light up my life so your glory and good works may be seen in me! (Matthew 5:16.)