Sometimes The Brightest Light Lies

All that is gold does not glitter. Not all those who wander are lost.

J. R. R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring

As I made my way to town for an early meeting with our elders, I noticed four lights. The first was the spotlight illuminating the welcome sign for our town. It appeared the brightest. The second was the crescent moon. The third was the bright star below the moon, halfway between it and the horizon. The final star is barely visible to the right of the moon.

The lightbulbs in the sign were blinding. The moon was bright. The star to the left, while not as brilliant as the moon, was still apparent. Actually it was not a star at all. It was the planet Venus, often called the Morning or Evening Star. The tiny dim star to the right of the moon was not a single star, but a system of three stars that appear as one to the naked eye because of their distance.  

It struck me how my perception of the brightness of each object had nothing to do with the actual brightness of each. The lights on the sign appeared the brightest, but weren't. The reflected sunlight of the moon is far brighter, and that of Venus would be even greater if the moon and Venus were both the same distance from the earth. The dimmest object to me was actually the brightest - three suns far outshine all the others.  

My perception of the brightness of each object had absolutely nothing to do with reality. It had everything to do with my proximity. The spotlights were only the brightest to me because they were the closest.

If anything in your life shines brighter than God, it is only because of your distance from Him and your nearness to whatever or whoever it is you perceive to be brighter.