{"id":5513,"date":"2026-06-17T09:52:59","date_gmt":"2026-06-17T13:52:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/?p=5513"},"modified":"2026-06-17T09:52:59","modified_gmt":"2026-06-17T13:52:59","slug":"the-most-crucial-light","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/17\/the-most-crucial-light\/","title":{"rendered":"The Most Crucial Light"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast<\/em>,\u00a0click here<\/a>

\u201cA lighthouse keeper who worked on a rocky stretch of coastline received his new supply of oil once a month to keep his light burning.”

That’s the opening line of a brief story told by William Maxwell in his book So Long, See You Tomorrow.<\/em>

The keeper occasionally welcomed guests from the nearby community.\u00a0\u00a0

One night a woman knocked on his door and begged for a bit of oil. She had no way of heating her cottage.\u00a0He graciously shared some of his supply. A few nights later a man came seeking oil as well.\u00a0He needed to relight the lanterns in his house. A mechanic came calling late one day.\u00a0Could he have a few drops of oil to lubricate some gears?\u00a0His business was at stake.

These were good people with legitimate requests.\u00a0The lighthouse keeper was glad to do whatever he could to help them.

Toward the end of a particular month, however, his supply of oil had run dangerously low.\u00a0Soon it was gone.\u00a0The beacon went out.

That very night, several ships collided with the rocks in the darkness.\u00a0Lives were lost.

When the authorities held an inquest, the lighthouse keeper openly acknowledged what had happened. He expressed heartfelt sorrow and remorse.\u00a0 \u00a0

If he expected mercy and understanding from the authorities, however, none was forthcoming.

“You were given oil for one purpose,” they said.\u00a0“Your job was to keep that light burning!”\u00a0

In a broken world, compassionate people are always at risk.\u00a0There are so many needs.\u00a0So many shattered hearts.\u00a0So many mouths to feed and spirits to console.\u00a0How can we ever take care of everybody?

The problem is that you will run out of you<\/em> long before you can help all of them<\/em>.\u00a0\u00a0

In Luke 10, the Good Samaritan in Jesus’ parable heroically stops to help a fellow traveler who has been mugged.\u00a0He pours oil and wine onto this stranger’s wounds, takes him away on the back of his donkey, and pays for his lodging at a place where he can heal. It is a deeply touching illustration of what it means to be a neighbor.

But the story raises several vexing questions.\u00a0\u00a0

How many times can the Good Samaritan stop to help someone lying helpless on the road?\u00a0How soon will he run out of oil, wine, and hotel money?\u00a0How quickly will his donkey require the services of an equestrian chiropractor?\u00a0\u00a0

Caregivers are often the world’s worst practitioners of self-care.\u00a0

Christmas Evans, the famed 19th<\/sup> century Welsh Baptist preacher, habitually pushed himself so hard that concerned friends begged him to slow down. He replied, with great flourish, \u201cI\u2019d rather burn out than rust out!\u201d That sounds impressive. But when you think about it, what were his options? Either way, he was \u201cout.\u201d

We can’t help others reach the finish line unless we ourselves are still in the race.\u00a0

Nor can we ignore the very reasons that God called us into ministry in the first place.

If God has assigned to you a particular \u201clighthouse\u201d and granted you the precious gift of oil \u2013 your gifts, your energy, and a current place of influence \u2013 remember the most crucial light.

It\u2019s the one that by God\u2019s grace and power always needs to be rekindled inside you<\/em>. \u00a0\u00a0
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To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast,\u00a0click here \u201cA lighthouse keeper who worked on a rocky stretch of coastline received his new supply of oil once a month to keep his light burning.” That’s the opening line of a brief story told by William Maxwell in his book So Long, See You Tomorrow. The keeper occasionally welcomed guests from… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":5514,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[244,1129,504],"class_list":["post-5513","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-pace-of-life","tag-self-care","tag-stewardship"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5513","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5513"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5513\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5515,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5513\/revisions\/5515"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5514"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5513"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5513"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5513"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}