Lighthouse Lacks Light

When we had been married just over a year, we were living in Midland, Michigan while we both did internships for Dow Corning. It was a fun time and we got to travel a bit again to see some new sights most people won't ever take the time to explore. We did a lighthouse tour on the great lakes, which honestly was a let down because most the lighthouses were far off shore so we couldn't really see them well. We did a covered bridge tour during the weeks of the peak of the fall colors and a personal favorite of mine was a Christmas store called BRONNER'S CHRISTmas WONDERLAND in Frankenmuth. Bronners probably solidified a growing obsession over Christmas at the time. It is a store maybe the size of a football field, but it feels small because it was like a little house they kept building on another room or wing to expand. It goes on and on and on. Bronners is the worlds largest Christmas store and it is sort of a playland of sorts for a Christmas addict. Another one not to be missed would be the Henry Ford Home & Museum. Totally ahead of his time with hair dryers in the bathrooms in the wall in the 1930s, adult sized tree house and all sorts of cool inventions built into his custom home. One of the other unique places we went, and really everyone should visit someday was Mackinaw Island. This quaint little island maintains its charm by means of a law stating that no motorized vehicles are allowed on the entire island. I think I remember hearing that the firetruck was a normal vehicle, but it didn't have sirens, because a siren would totally freak out all the horses on the streets. There were lots of fun tourist shops to look at and we paid for a carriage ride tour of the island. You would ride for a while, then stop and look at things, then get on again with that carriage or wait for the next one to join that group. It made for a very enjoyable day. At one little shop, Brian and I found some great paintings of lighthouses. I have loved the bigger print and have displayed it in most every home we have lived in. Lighthouses are just one of those powerful symbols. They are the beacon of light in the storm, protecting all from danger and peril. They are a representation of Christ and all that he can be for us if we just have faith to look and follow the direction given by the light. For years, I've walked past the lighthouse, that powerful symbol. I guess it must have been about one year ago that the stars were aligned, or rather the couches. Our living room was situated such that I was positioned looking at the lighthouse in the living room from my resting place on the couch. In the past, it had always been hung behind the couch or in a bedroom or somewhere less prominent. By golly, as I sat that day, I realized, the lighthouse I have loved for years, HAS NO LIGHT! The lighthouse is off, even with the stormy seas depicted by the artist. It has irked me ever since. I can't decide if I should keep the picture or replace it. It certainly lacks meaning now. How could I not see that for seven years?