Moonlight

Okay, I admit it. I am not the best dad in the world when it comes to teaching my children to eat in a healthy way. One night, they were craving for fried rice. We decided to have dinner at our favorite Thai restaurant. The kids can get their fried rice and I can get my crispy noodles.

As we were driving, I noticed that the moon was in full display in the horizon. Wanting to kill some time and teach the kids about astronomy, I asked the children:

Daddy: Is the moon made of cheese?

Children: Of course not! Don’t be silly.

I am glad they answered the trick question correctly. I decided to ask them something that’s a little bit harder.

Daddy: Why is the moon bright? Does it have its own light?

Children: Yes, the moon has its own light.

They missed that one. I saw this as an opportunity to show off my knowledge of astronomy. I proceeded to explain that the moon did not have its own light — it was merely reflecting light from the sun. The sun is the source of the light.

The children did not seem to be very interested in the impromptu science lesson. After murmuring that they understood the lesson, they quickly got back to the smartphones they were holding. They wanted catch some Pokémon. After all, there were a lot of PokéStops along the way.

Since I had a few more minutes of driving, I started to reflect on how I sometimes acted as if I am a moon and that somehow I produced my own light. I have been blessed with skills, talents, and knowledge. I often act as if I have these purely as a result of my own efforts. More often than I would like to admit, I do not acknowledge that God, like the sun, is the actual source of the light. I, like the moon, am merely a mirror.

I should take heed from John the Baptist. In my mind, he is one of the most “hard-core” prophets in the Bible. I mean this guy lived in the desert. He ate locusts and wild honey. He had a lot of followers. And yet the Gospel of John said that John the Baptist’s purpose was “to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him. He was not the light, but came to testify to the light.”

When I was in elementary school, I wasn’t the most well-behaved student and I often got sent to the board to repeatedly write that I will behave. I think God need’s to send me to whatever will pass as a board so I can write “I am not the light. I come to testify to the light”. I need to write this 100 times so that the message can sink in.