“Light is electromagnetic radiation within a certain portion of the electromagnetic spectrum. The word usually refers to visible light, which is visible to the human eye and responsible for the sense of sight.” (Wikipedia) Also called “luminous energy,” or “radiant energy,” or “electromagnetic radiation to which the organ of sight reacts;” it’s energy at a wavelength of about 400nm to 700nm and travels at 186,282 miles per second.
Dictionary.com makes it simple; light is “something that makes things visible.” And that can mean one of two things; first, we can physically see things in the light we can’t see in the dark. Second, it can also refer to an “aha moment,” when we “see” something or understand something for the first time.
John the Apostle wrote about the New Jerusalem, “I did not see a temple in the city, because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp. The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their splendor into it. On no day will its gates ever be shut, for there will be no night there. (Revelation 21:10, 22-22:5)
We won’t need flashlights in heaven and there won’t be any secrets; but for now, I have flashlights stashed all over our house and a couple in my truck, and I have lots of secrets …
If people knew my secrets they might not like me. Or they might tell other people. Or they might use them against me. Maybe you know what I’m talking about; maybe you have secrets of your own? I read somewhere, years ago, that a good friend is someone who knows your secrets and loves you anyway.
Paul was writing about flashlights and secrets and love in 1 Corinthians 13:12, “For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.” Jesus knows all my secrets and loves me anyway; he’s the best friend I have.

Charles “Buddy” Whatley is a retired pastor serving Woodland – Bold Springs UMC, a marketplace chaplain, and with Mary Ella, a missionary to the Navajo Reservation in Arizona.