"Let Your Light Shine"

"I will praise Thee, O Lord among the people: I will sing unto Thee among the nations." (Psalms 57:9) The older I get, the more I realize how much little time I have left; also I realize that all my friends and people I knew growing up are quickly leaving this earth; it's a little scary in a way, not that I can't stand the thought of leaving myself, but that it's like a passing train, here today, gone tomorrow. We all have been given a gift that is not something we were meant to keep to ourselves, it is meant to be shared, not only among our friends and family members, but to those that we may not know, and that need to know Jesus. It is way too easy to just blend into the crowd and not let yourself stand out as someone that is different, or that has something in you that others might want; all that you have to do is act busy, if you aren't already as busy as you can be. I rush around so fast each day, I can hardly keep up with myself, so I know how little light is shinning through me; everyone just sees a streak of light go by, and wonders, "What was that?", because I hardly have the time to share any of this Light that I have been given. And I really don't think that it's just me, because I see other believers that I know spinning their wheels just as fast as I am, trying to accomplish as much as they can in the little time they think that they might have left. It wasn't always like this, because when I first got saved, I could not be contained, and I needed to tell everyone I meet about this wonderful gift that I had been given; now it feels as if I have run out of things to say, or that the gift I have been given is not all that exciting anymore; or maybe, I just have grown up and learned to be reserved, and less intrusive into the lives of others, especially people that I do not know. Please don't get me wrong, I do still share my faith when ever someone might ask me for a reason for the hope inside of me; I just don't take the initiative to just start up a conversation about Jesus with a perfect stranger, like I once did, decades ago. Is it just me, or do we all need a little jolt of freshness in our experience with the Lord? More than half the people I know have been saved for thirty years or more, and most of them seem as though they are just waiting to die; or that they had their little red wagon stolen, and everyone is a suspect. I think this verse describes something of a ticket to what is required of us to let our Light shine, in that we must praise the Lord; just praise Him for His goodness, for His mercy, and for His mighty love that He has shown for us! It's like there is a pilot light inside of me that is always flickering and waiting to be ignited, and it is the valve of praise that ignites the fire...
"And that the Gentiles might glorify God for His mercy; as it is written, For this cause I will confess to Thee among the Gentiles, and sing unto Thy name. And again He saith, Rejoice, ye Gentiles, with His people. And again, Praise the Lord, all ye Gentiles; and laud Him, all ye people. And again, Isaiah saith, There shall be a root of Jesse, and he that shall rise to reign over the Gentiles; in Him shall the Gentiles trust. Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost." (Romans 15:9-13)