The Light of Christmas

I was watching a movie the other day "The Christmas Cottage."  An elderly artist was struggling with a painting and he realized that he was concentrating on the pain and darkness of missing his beloved wife and instead he needed to paint the light!  Light!  He painted a beautiful picture of the light shining through the leaves. He said to Thomas Kinkade in the movie, "I have been trying to paint my sorrow, to show a bleakness of a world without Nicole, but then you came with a candle last night, and I knew what Nicole's memorial should be. Not darkness, but light. Sometimes we can barely see beyond the forest to the sky. I was painting the leaves of the forest and never saw the light of the sky behind it. Now I see it. That's all I need to see now."

I watch my daughter paint and it is amazing to see the light reflected in her work.  She recently painted a picture she entitled "Aspen" and it truly reflected light and life and glorious beauty.

When you walk into a darkened room, the colors do not show up at all but turn the light on and "voila," colors are everywhere! As my son and his wife turned the lights on their tree last week, we noticed how the lights were reflected in their bay window. What a beautiful sight! 

My Lonnie loved Christmastime, everything about it:  the music, the joyous smiles of our children, celebrating Advent as a family in our home as we prepared for Christmas Day, lighting the candles, making gifts and putting together toys, drinking eggnog, decorating our house inside and out (including  our fake snow in Guam and real snow in North Dakota), going to the mall and watching the people scurry and hurry along, Christmas Eve service with the luminaries all lit, the Christmas story on Christmas morning, the chaos and the fun...and the lights.

Jesus is the Light of the World.  We need His light to shine brightly in our lives, to dispel the darkness. During this time of Christmas, I am making a mental note to concentrate on the "Light." I want the beautiful Christmas lights to remind me of our Savior who was born a baby in a manger. Later in his earthly ministry He said the words, "I have come into the world as light, so that everyone who believes in me should not remain in darkness" (John 12:46). He also said, "I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life" (John 8:12).

This year I am concentrating on the Light

     ....and the music

          .......and family

               ...... and the joy that continues in our grandchildren's faces and our children's faces as they rejoice with their families 
                     .....and the joy of Zach and Tiffany bringing little Ruby home for Christmas.   

But most of all, I want to fix my eyes on the Light; on Jesus who came into the world to bring us hope and peace in the midst of the storm. I want to reflect His light to the world around me even as those windows in my son's house reflected the lights of the Christmas tree.  

So when we see those twinkling beautiful Christmas lights, let's remember the love of our God who sent His only Son to be our Light and who will lead us home.

Thank you, God, for leaving the Light on for us.  


(The song Light of the World by Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir started playing on my computer as I finished this blog. My computer was on shuffle play.  I thought that was very special!)