Looking For Light

Psalm 119:105 – Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path. (NKJV)

I never really wondered why bananas are shaped the way that they are until I saw a children's program about them on television. I was intrigued, so I looked up the details on Google, and here is what I found out.

Banana plants look like trees, but what appears to be a trunk is made up of the rolled bases of leaves, called a pseudostem. The flower spike grows up through the middle of the pseudostem, emerges at the top of the plant, and produces rows of flowers in several tiers. Once the flowers are pollinated, tiny banana fruits start to grow, all hanging down. Once they are much bigger, instead of continuously growing towards the ground, surprisingly, the fruit start to turn upwards towards the sun in order to receive light, a process called negative geotropism. Because of the distance from the tropics where bananas grow to the markets where they are sold, they are picked green and refrigerated at 13 degrees Celsius to prevent the production of their natural ripening agent, ethylene, for three to four weeks.

I am sure that the woman who was brought to Jesus accused of committing adultery was hanging her head and looking at the ground as her fate was being decided. Things were very dark for her indeed, because the law was very clear: she should be stoned to death. After a long time, Jesus said, "He who is without sin among you, let him throw a stone at her first." (John 8:7b NKJV) One by one, the accusers left them.

John 8:10b-12 – He said to her, "Woman, where are those accusers of yours? Has no one condemned you?" She said, "No one, Lord." And Jesus said to her, "Neither do I condemn you; go and sin no more." Then Jesus spoke to them again, saying, "I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life." (NKJV)

Undoubtedly, the woman lifted her head in joy at her new lease on life, gazing in wonder at the Light of the world.

Like the bananas, there are times in our lives when our heads are hanging and we are looking down, times when we know that we are walking in darkness. It may be caused by illness, financial problems, old age, discouragement, depression, or sadness about things which are happening near us or in the world at large. When this happens, we should be like the young bananas: stop looking down and start looking up towards the light — Jesus, the Light of the world. I am sure the woman did. Do you?

Prayer: Our Father in heaven, when we walk in darkness, we pray that the light of salvation which Jesus offers will brighten our path of life. We ask this in His holy name. Amen.

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