Keeping Light to Yourself

Most of the forces around us tell us to keep any light we perceive to ourselves–or that the light we see is in truth darkness, or at most only light to ourselves.

Shine it anyway.

A couple thoughts on this:

• The only way to find light is to shine what we perceive as light—even if we are mistaken. It is the only way.

“The only way to get at what is right, is to do what seems right. Even if we mistake, there is no other way.”—George MacDonald

• If it is light, I don’t think anyone is so presumptuous to say it’s their light.
• If no one shines what they perceive as light, then the world would be dark. It’s better to be wrong in the light than right in the dark.
• If the light isn’t ours, then putting a bushel over it is containing something that isn’t ours. It’s selfishness. Hoarding.
• Light shines. Light doesn’t shine to be perceived. It shines. Perceiving is irrelevant to light.
• I’ll end by sharing with you a modified excerpt from a book I wrote about transforming the Clean Air Act. I hope it resonates with you and shining your light in the new year.

You, Light, and Improving the World

Sentiment: “Yeah … I’d like to make this a better world, but I don’t want to draw attention to myself. And I don’t want people mad at me or thinking that I’m out there trying to look like, ‘Hey, look at me, aren’t I wonderful?’”

First of all, what’s wrong with looking like you are wonderful? You are wonderful. Second, how is the world improved by not letting your light shine?

The goal is not to be better than others. Or to be better than one’s self. But to be better than self. Putting a bushel on the light isn’t modesty—it’s in fact selfishness. It’s in truth an unwillingness to abandon self and become translucent to the light.

Time to let the light shine.

——-“We must let our light shine, make our faith, our hope, our love manifest—that men may praise, not us for shining, but the Father for creating the light.”—George MacDonald

@misc{anderson_2026_keeping_light_to_yourself,
  author = {Jed Anderson},
  title  = {Keeping Light to Yourself},
  year   = {2026},
  url    = {https://jedanderson.org/posts/keeping-light-to-yourself},
  note   = {Accessed: 2026-05-13}
}

Anderson, J. (2026). Keeping Light to Yourself. Retrieved from https://jedanderson.org/posts/keeping-light-to-yourself

Anderson, Jed. "Keeping Light to Yourself." Jed Anderson, May 12, 2026, https://jedanderson.org/posts/keeping-light-to-yourself.