Oil Lamps

Our spring cleaning is still underway. 

Today, one task was to wash the oil lamps that are scattered throughout the house,

trim the wicks, and refill the lamp with fresh oil.

Even people that live off grid have power outages. 

Once in a while, the inverter for the generator will decide to hiccup,

and if my husband is not home, 

I am not capable yet to problem solve the situation and get the lights back up. 

Once we ran low on diesel, and when we needed to use the generator on a stormy day when there was not much solar power drawn in to charge up our batteries,  we quickly ran out of fuel, 

so we were *oil lamps only* for a few hours. 

Sometimes we light them just for fun, being the romantic hicks we are.

  My daughter Rose shared with me her daily devotional (one of those Holy coincidences)

from "Small Acts of Grace"by Alice Gray this timely story:

"There were two vintage oil lamps. 

One lamp had only a little oil in the base-too little for the wick to reach, so the wick was stiff and dry.  The other lamp was nearly full, with the wick totally saturated in the oil. 

Both lamps were beautiful, with ribbed pedestals, elegant clear glass fonts, and fluted chimneys. 

But when it came to actually shining, they couldn't have been more different. 

It was difficult to light the dry wick, 

and when it finally did catch, there was no flame,

only a bit of glow that lasted for  a few minutes at the most. 

The wick with the oil, on the other hand, caught the flame immediately

and continued to burn brightly.

Too many missed days without an intimate time with the Lord, 

and we are like the lamp with the dry wick.  

We need to be saturated in the oil of His word and soaked in His love

so the Lord can cause our lives to shine.

I love Psalm 18:28 because it makes the point so clear: 

"For You cause my lamp to be lighted and to shine;  the lord my God illumines my darkness."