January 8 - Lights Out! (1/8/13)

Are the lights out at your house? Not the electricity, but your Christmas

lights? Yesterday mine were turned off, taken down and stored. One of the 

days I dread. I know it has to come because I can't keep them up all year. If 

I did, my neighbors would talk (I suspect they do already, since most of 

theirs were off the day after Christmas) and the delight of the Christmas 

lights would lose their charm.

Part of the pleasure of Christmas lights and decorations is that they 

are only here for a time, about a month usually. That leaves 11 

months to anticipate them coming back. If they were up all year,

lights would lose their "special glow," and we would stop noticing

them.

Sort of like the bluebonnets that bloom in the spring that would become routine if they bloomed all year, no matter how spectacular they are in April. It always amazes me that people who live daily in the shadow of the most majestic mountain range in the Rocky Mountains tell me they "get used to it." What? That awe-inspiring, jaw-dropping mountain range becomes invisible? Or folks on Maui tell me they get tired of the constant ocean views and long for the mountains! Maybe those folks should switch homes every few months in order to maintain the new, amazing, incredible awe in their surroundings! We people all long for change, for new, spectacular and dramatic.

Today… I still have the most amazing light. It is always here, ready for me, gently calling me. I loved the first words of "Jesus Calling" today:

"Softly I announce my presence…hope in Me, the golden cord connecting you to heaven."

Wow! That is gently jaw-dropping for me. The images of light are still with me. Oh, the beautiful artificial Christmas lights have been stored away until next year, but the light of the world, my world and yours is still here. It is not going anywhere. And the light of Jesus never goes into storage!

"I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness but will have the light of life." John 8:12

Pray:

Light up the dark days of winter, Father, with Your Presence. Fill our gray days with the sunshine of You, our friend who walks ahead of us, lighting our way and walks beside us in constant companionship, comfort and joy.

Amen