We are into February at last. The month of snowdrops and aconites and all sorts of signs of growth that remind us that spring is on its way. I look forward to watching the flowers and birds but most of all I look forward to longer days.

It is interesting that we need sunlight to help our emotional feelings. Lack of it causes some of us to feel very down. Most of us feel better when the sun is shining.

A friend of mine has recently acquired a light box. This is a screen which is supposed to simulate sunlight and is thought to be helpful for people who suffer from SAD (seasonal adjusted disorder).

This condition causes, as I understand it, depression or at least low moods during the winter months when there is limited sunlight. My son calls the light box the happy screen'.

My friend has the box switched on while he is washing up in the evening. He turns off the kitchen light, although I don't think this is necessary. I am surprised at how very bright the light box is. It dominates the kitchen.

You can't help but look at it but when you do you have to turn your eyes away. I suppose that is like the sun really. When it is bright in a clear sky at the height of the summer it attracts you but you can't (and shouldn't) look directly at it.

In the Bible John says that in Jesus was life and the life was the light to live by'. The Message Bible calls Jesus the Life-Light.

We need light to live physically and emotionally. We all know that. But we need the Life-Light' too to live spiritually.

Many of us think of God as being somewhere out there, perhaps like the sun looking down on us from a great height. But the Bible tells us that he wants to be with us, involved in our lives, shining out whatever we are doing - even in the kitchen doing the washing up.