When I was a child, my parents and I visited one of my mother's sisters and her family in Bloomington, Indiana. One warm evening l remember experiencing the joy of seeing hundreds and hundreds of tiny luminous insects punctuating the night sky. Their soft, intermittent bursts of light were a wonder to behold. I know there is a scientific explanation for this phenomenon but I would rather not hear it; I am content with the mysterious wonder of it and the joy it brought to a young boy’s heart. Now, about 80-years later, that young boy is an old man - old man who still remembers a younger self so pleasured by one of Yahweh God's endless creations.

     Having been a disciple of the Lord Jesus for more than sixty years, I recently took a personal inventory of how much I have accomplished in advancing God's purpose in Jesus Christ. After careful reflection I decided that in all honesty I hadn't accomplished much at all. At first I was disappointed in my conclusion and ii took awhile to put the matter in perspective. After considerable reflection and self-analysis I have concluded that the very little that I have accomplished in my lifetime probably is true of many other Christians.

     Only a few believers have accomplished so much that their life and ministry have been preserved. I have in mind men like the apostle Paul, Peter and John whose ministries have enlightened untold millions for generations of time and will continue to inspire others to become disciples in the time that remains before the Lord Jesus returns. But during the lives of such men there were other men, less known even then, and many women who were shining lights in the darkened world to the few who knew them and were inspired by them. And down through the centuries there have been a few who have become world-known in their ministries and the impact they had in relation to the preservation of the Christian faith. But, again, during those many centuries there must have been millions who are lost to history but whose little light of ministry illuminated the lives of many.

     I think of being a part of that latter group-the untold millions who for but a moment showed forth a small glow of spiritual light that benefitted a few. Perhaps it is a boast even to lay claim to being a part of that larger assembly of believers, I do not know. But it brings me joy to think of myself as one of the lesser ones of Jesus' disciples, and that is where the metaphor of the fire-fly comes in. In this intensely dark world every faithful Christian is reflecting a soft laminating light of God and Christ in their lives. They are having influences on the lives of others that they may never realize they are having. From their own point of view they may think that they don't amount to much, but they are loved and treasured by God and Christ.

     This disciple has experienced the dramatic changes even a small amount of God's Holy Spirit has made in his life. The good accomplished as a result of that has been God's work. “For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do" (Eph. 2:10). What an honor it has been to be drawn to Christ and received, as a result of faith, adoption into the family of God, So, after all has been considered, this little fire-fly of a Christian recognizes that he and many millions like him bring joy to the Father's heart and Jesus is not ashamed to call such ones brothers (Heb. 2:11). In the end it has made a life worth living and filled an old man's heart with gratitude and thankfulness.

R. Frye
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