Phos Hilaron and Allowing the Light Through

It is amazing the things one thinks while in the bath. Certainly, many people do their best thinking while alone in the bath for precisely that reason: they are alone, without distraction, and will be there, likely, for a while.

I had a "teachable moment" this morning in the bath with my son, (who is four years old and, as a result, is often permitted to interrupt my times in the bath if he needs to use the bathroom) who enquired as to why there was a small orange glimmer of light on the wall beside the sink. I had to think a moment, and then realised the plastic handle on my razor is orange and was picking up the light from the bulb above it. I then went into a lecture about the three stages of light allowances that I could remember from grade school:

1. something transluscent allows some light to pass through it, (like the razor handle),
2. something transparent allowed most or all light to pass through it,
3. and something opaque does not allow any like to pass through it but will instead cast a shadow.

He was obviously amazed at Daddy's brilliance as he said nothing, flushed the toilet and left.

Undoubtedly some of you will look upon the title of this blog with some familiarity, but many will scratch their head and wonder if I've mispelt something. I have stolen the title from our most ancient hymn: [http://encyclopedia.tfd.com/Phos+Hilaron]  I steal it because I feel it aptly names the concept I discoverd in the bath.

Once my son had left I rejoined my thoughts which mingled with the recent exploration of grade-school science. How transparent was I, and what Light is passing through, if any? Of course, you may now have put together I am talking about Christ, the Light of the world, or, the Gladdening Light "phos hilaron".

As we live and breath, as we go about our business, as we respond to the world around us, do we allow some of that light to pass, all of it, or are we spiritually opaque?  There has been much written on such a topic, challenges given by many much more capable than I, but I hope to simply get you to do some self-evaluation (2 Cor 13. 5).  I know I left the bath that morning a cleaner man on both the in and outside.

Something for the "think-ubator"