Spiritual Lessons Taken from Pansies Facing the Light

My wife and I have enjoyed a little grove of pansies in one of our flowerbeds. This spring they greeted everyone who came to the door with their very happy, colorful faces. They appeared to be intentionally facing the walkway into the house in a friendly way.

Truth be told, I believe they were facing that direction because that’s where they got the most light. Without any light, plants eventually die. So it makes sense that our pansy grove was programmed to face the light.

But that makes me think that sometimes pansies are more intelligent than humans. In last week’s article we read that Matthew in his Gospel quoted the prophet Isaiah (9:1-2) in describing the effect of Jesus’ ministry on the region of Galilee. Matthew 4:16 says that His presence there was a great light which flooded the area as He taught and demonstrated God’s power and love through the miracles He performed.

Saint Augustine said that “the human soul . . . cannot be happy except by partaking of the light of that God by whom both itself and the world were made.” We are dependent on Him who sustains all things (Colossians 1:16-17). But the New Testament tells us that humans have a tendency to turn away from the Light. Why would that be? Matthew 4:17 tells us the content of Jesus’ public ministry right from the start: “From that time Jesus began to preach and to say, ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.’”

No wonder we sinners tend to hide in the shadows. Who wants to be exposed as flawed and shameful? But in issuing that call for repentance, Jesus is offering to cleanse us and to make us free to live as we were designed to live with nothing to hide and no shame restricting us to linger in dark places.

In the region of Galilee, people were groping for light, trying to be as religious as best they could figure. Jesus brought clarity. Trusting in Him for salvation, resigning one’s will over to Him and His teaching, is the way of life. The call to repentance is a call to change, and that is often uncomfortable.

When you feel deprived, or like life is too hard for you, or when you are discouraged and there is no relief visible on the horizon, making your life all about being obedient to Christ and loving Him brings meaning and light to what felt very dark. When filled with vague longing and tempted toward dark fantasies, the honorable light of holy living brings joy and a bright sense of freedom. If you are hated on the job, or if your family creates hardship for you, but you have fellowship with Christ, His presence keeps your emotions from settling into dark moods. He experienced trials and temptations, and He loves sinners and is able to make you holy.

What a gracious gift this Light is! “Send out Your light and Your truth!” (Psalm 43:3).