Glow sticks. God’s chem lights.

The Reading is from St. Paul's Second Letter to the Corinthians 4:6-15
Brethren, it is the God who said, "Let light shine out of darkness," who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.
But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, to show that the transcendent power belongs to God and not to us. We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies. For while we live we are always being given up to death for Jesus' sake, so that the life of Jesus may be manifested in our mortal flesh. So death is at work in us, but life in you.
Since we have the same spirit of faith as he had who wrote, "I believed, and so I spoke," we too believed, and so we speak, knowing that He who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus and bring us with you into His presence. For it is all for your sake, so that as grace extends to more and more people it may increase thanksgiving, to the glory of God."

We have 2 running jokes in the Army for new privates.  First,  if we are at a range and we have to collect the spent shells we say, “go get the brass magnet.”  Of course, there is none.  And after an  hour of asking for it , he learns  it doesn’t exist.
Another one is,”  get batteries for the chem lights.”  After running around for an hour, they realize they don’t exist either.

What is a chem light you ask?  It is a florescent  chemical that lights when the plastic  casing around it is broken  and shaken.
Well for a chem light to work, it has to be broken  to let the alchemy work.  In the same way, only when  we are broken- like Paul said here- do we let the light shine in our mortal frame. Our mortal frame has to be broken  somehow in order to let the light shine out.  After all, the light under the bushel  has to shine.