Two Cottages

There were two identical cottages built beside one another, and an electrician was called to install light fixtures in one. After a day’s work, he was dismayed to find that none of the fixtures he installed worked. The developer assured him the electricity was on, but as it turned out, the electricity was turned on for the cottage with no fixtures and the one with fixtures had no electricity. In many ways, the two cottages are like you and me, and, if we are honest, we have a bit of each cottage in us.

First, there’s the cottage with all the fixtures but no electricity. How like us is such a place? With much time attention and money put toward having the right fixtures, it’s all for show because there’s no electricity. No matter how wonderful or fancy the fixture, without electricity it will not work. I think of the man I know who has all the right toys, a family worthy of a Christmas card, but is desperate for a life with meaning. He has the fixtures, just not the electricity.

Then there’s the cottage with electricity but no fixtures. Electricity without fixtures is as effective as fixtures without electricity.  One needs both, but to simply have electricity is like the man who feels the presence of God but does nothing with it. Endowed with many gifts and talents, he perpetually lives a cautious life. Moved by his minister’s recent sermon, he files it away with other “classics” before returning to his chair for a nap. He remains in darkness, but it’s not because of a lack of electricity.

I believe each of us is called to bring light into the world. To do so, one needs both fixtures and electricity. Alone, they offer only darkness. Together, they can light up the world.