Last week we learned about reflection and diffused light. Let’s continue to follow the science, to learn more about light rays and how they work in this world. Our God set up some amazing systems.

Some of the light can be transmitted through the object itself, so on the bottom of a leaf, you will see a lot of the green light coming through. Some plants have evolved a barrier on the bottom of each leaf to reflect the light back up again through the leaf in order to use more of the available energy. This makes the bottom of the leaf look red/blue or purple.

Red and blue light are absorbed into the leaf and is converted into another form of energy. In plants this is called photosynthesis. Watch this video for a simple explanation of light reflection, absorptions, and transmission.

You see a leaf as a green object because that is the color of the light that is reflected from its surface. However, a lot of light is absorbed into the leaf, which is a good thing. You see, for a plant to grow it needs light, because that is a source of energy. Without light, a plant withers and dies.

I want to crave God’s light in the same way as the plants who are so hungry for light that they build a barrier that bounces the absorbed light around inside itself so that can use it more fully. They crave the light—they don’t want to miss an iota of that precious, life-giving source of power.

The Bible calls Jesus the Bread of Life and the Living Water—two things we can’t live without. The Holy Spirit is often referred to as the Breath of God. Air–osygen–is the third thing necessary for human life. Like the plants require light, “as the deer pants for water,” as a baby craves mother’s milk, we need our precious Lord and Savior.

And as we absorb the rays of God’s love, it reflects off of us. We crave more and more of Him, and we share His light with those in the darkness.

33 “No one lights a lamp and puts it in a place where it will be hidden, or under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, so that those who come in may see the light. 34 Your eye is the lamp of your body. When your eyes are healthy, your whole body also is full of light. But when they are unhealthy, your body also is full of darkness. 35 See to it, then, that the light within you is not darkness. 36 Therefore, if your whole body is full of light, and no part of it dark, it will be just as full of light as when a lamp shines its light on you.” 
Luke 11:33-36

THINKING ABOUT IT

• How is a Christian like a plant?
• Do your daily habits reflect your real need for God?

PRAY WITH ME

Dear Lord, help my life to be guided by your greatest commandment: to love God, my neighbor, and myself. Help me to be eager to participate in what you are doing in and around me. May I fill myself to overflowing with you. May your green-life-giving light reflect off of me and shine your light to those around me.  Amen.

Dei-Phototropism²

Designed and planted by the Master Gardener³
and nourished by His Word,
I bask in His love song.⁴

Turning my face to His Son,
I am showered with blessings,
cascaded with rivers of His Light.⁵

When winter storms buffet and ice weighs heavily on my branches,
I remain rooted deeply,
secure in the green expanses of His salvation garden.⁶

He prunes my wayward branches
and gently wraps the tendrils of my hope
around the trellis of His promises.⁷

I was planted to give
                             comfort in my shade,
                              loving welcome in my branches,
                              pleasure with my blossoms,
                              sustenance by my fruit,

And to cast seeds of salvation into the winds of His Holy Spirit.⁸

¹Tropism: turning or bending (typically by growth instead of movement) of an organism in response to external stimuli
²Personal Biblical Mandate: Dei-Tropism, Kathie Evenhouse, November 13, 2006
³Psalm 1:2-3                      ⁴Zephaniah 3:17               ⁵Psalm 103:1-3
⁶Psalm 23                           ⁷James 1                             ⁸Micah 6:8