The Guiding Light: It’s Not A Soap Opera

I remember watching soap operas when I was a child. The one I watched was General Hospital. The show was probably way too adult for me to watch, but I loved watching it so that I could talk with my older cousin about it. Back then, we wrote letters—those things that you spend hours writing and then wait for days for one to come in the mail. My cousin was much older than me, and I realize now that she was just being nice to me, but that is such a fantastic memory of my childhood.

I was talking to my husband one day about my memories, and he laughed because he had a similar story. For him, it was his grandmother that he remembered her also loving General Hospital. He said that no matter what they were doing, everything had to be scheduled around the time that the show came on.

There were a few other soap operas around that time. I seem to remember The Young and the Restless and The Guiding Light being two popular shows. Why I went down the rabbit hole thinking about these shows is beyond me. All I know is I spent way more time than I should have looking up characters and dates.

Later that night, I was in bed trying to go to sleep, but my brain wouldn’t shut down. I couldn’t actually remember much about the soap operas, but my brain kept trying. Finally, I fell asleep, but my mind kept churning, but with a twist.

The Guiding Light was in my dream, but not the show. Instead, it was a bright light that appeared in my dream and showed me the path I was on. It was dark, so the light was the only way I could see where I was going, but I could only see a little at a time.

I felt like I was in a maze because I would walk so far and come to a T where I had to choose which way to go. The light didn’t show me the way I should go; I had to make the choice. There were times when I would go in a direction, and the light would stay behind and not come with me. If I turned around and went back in the other direction, the light would shine on the path.

I woke up before I actually reached the end of the maze, so I have no idea would have ended up. As I thought about the dream, I started thinking about how the maze was a lot like life. There are so many times when we are at a crossroads, and we have to choose which way we need to go.

Most of the time, we have an idea of where we want to go, so we choose the path we think will get us to our destination the quickest. Like my dream, I’ve had to backtrack a few times because I chose the wrong path. Where was my guiding light? Did it stay behind because I chose the wrong direction? Maybe it was there, but I couldn’t see it.

John 8:12 NIV

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.”

John 1:5-7 NIV

⁵ The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. ⁶ There was a man sent from God whose name was John. ⁷ He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all might believe.

The light is always there, but I have to seek it. There might be times when the light is easy to see, and I follow it, even if I’m not sure where it is taking me. Other times, I can’t see even the tiniest hint of light, but I know it is still there; I’m just not where I need to be to see it. I could stand still and do nothing, or I could slowly keep going. During those times, it takes faith to put one foot in front of the other and keep moving forward.

Psalms 27:1 NIV

¹ The Lord is my light and my salvation— whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life— of whom shall I be afraid?

No matter how dark it looks, remember that the Lord is LIGHT! He is our SALVATION! In Him, we have no reason to fear, and putting one foot in front of the other should be easy. He is always there for us, even if that means waiting patiently for us to realize we took the wrong path before heading back to Him.

To GOD Goes The Glory!

Have A Blessed Day!