Think of the lowly 100-watt incandescent light bulb. It hangs from a light fixture, with its single filament glowing brightly. The light goes in all directions, yet not very far. The filament burns bright and hot and consumes a lot of energy. The life expectancy of the bulb is limited, and eventually, the filament will burn out.
For years, I lived the incandescent lifestyle.
I worked hard but didn’t get very far
My life went in all directions; I had no focus.
My filament burned hot but started to dim after time.
I went to work every day, where I sweated and toiled while complaining that I couldn’t get ahead. I came home tired and exhausted, following whatever whim the day brought with it. I would try all sorts of things, but nothing seemed to move me ahead. Slowly I came to the realization that I was stuck. My bright view of life slowly dimmed. It wouldn’t be long until my filament burned out.
Does that sound like you?
I lived this lifestyle for years. I used a lot of energy, yet it got me nowhere.
All I could see were other people living a similar way. A bunch of individual light bulbs, some brighter than others, yet all just throwing their light in all directions. Every once in a while, a bulb would dim…
And then it would go out.
I would feel sad, burn a little brighter, but it didn’t matter. My unfocused light would only go so far. My illumination only lit up a limited area. My vision was limited by my light.
New Technology
Then one day it happened. I saw some of the bulbs being replaced with shiny new compact fluorescent units. At first, they looked really strange, but I quickly noticed they didn’t use as much energy. I decided I needed this new technology. So I replaced my incandescent life with a more modern CFL equivalent. Now I gave off just as much light as before, but I didn’t have to work so hard. I burned much cooler, and I was told I would live much longer.
Yet my light didn’t go any further.
My modern technology filled life just added complexity, and I noticed I was getting fat. In fact, most all of the CFL’s were bloated, overweight, and had trouble starting at times.
I had replaced my life of hard work, with one behind a desk. I didn’t use as much energy, but I ended up fat, bloated and I had trouble coming to work.
Yet my light was the same.
I made a lot of changes, but it really got me nowhere. Sure, I might live a little longer, but I was really no different.
Life went on this way for a long time.
In fact, it would have gone on this way forever, but one day I looked at myself in the mirror. I didn’t like what I saw. Here I was with all my modern technology, yet I had really just added a lot of complexity to make the same light as before. And it was getting me nowhere.
Reflection
But then I noticed something curious. When I looked in the mirror, some of my light was reflected. I moved closer and noticed that even more light was reflected. I suddenly realized this reflected light was going further than ever before.
It all started to make sense.
Instead of giving off light in all directions, this mirror was directing light in a concentrated fashion. The closer I got, the more concentrated it was.
I moved around, and I saw that I could determine where my light went. By moving close and setting myself in the right position I could suddenly light up things in the distance. I could now see farther than ever before. I could determine where my light went in the distance.
I started to see new things, new vistas, new destinations.
I wasn’t stuck in my old ways anymore.
My light stopped going everywhere. Now it was going somewhere.
All by looking in the mirror and focusing my light in one direction.
It simply meant examining myself and setting a focused goal.
Determining, once and for all, where my light would go.
Then I kissed the incandescent lifestyle away.
Now I was a spotlight.
Focused, reflected, and going further than ever before.