Light

Everyone who knows me knows I ADORE Christmas. I start getting excited in October, though usually the Christmas music has already come out by then. By Thanksgiving I've mapped out the decorations in the house and stocked up on candles because by far, one of my favorite aspects is all the Christmas light.

As a kid, I used to love turning off all the lights in the house other than the ones on the tree, locating every candle in the house I could get my hands on, and then just lying under the tree and watching the lights sparkle on the ceiling. As I was reflecting on this, it hit me that God must have a fascination with light, too. It was the first thing he created. “Let there be light!” When he led his people through the desert for 40 years, he used a pillar of light when it got dark. And when it came time to send Jesus into the world to save us sinners, he compared him to light. “The people walking in darkness have seen a great light” (Is 9:2).

We tend to take light for granted nowadays. At least I do. We can flick a switch anytime we want, and light is at our beck and call. But have you ever been in a power outage? In my first one, I couldn't believe how helpless I felt, how stuck. There's something about light that offers stability and security. Hmm, kind of like Jesus....

But it gets even cooler. Not only was he our light, but by following him, he gives us the ability, the call in fact, to be light as well. “You are the light of the world” (Matt 5:14). He says that whenever we share that same gift that we received from Jesus with others, we are like shining stars, sparkling in a dark universe. Cool. No seriously: how cool! I get to be just like the one tiny flame that dances before my Lord and hopefully draws others to look upon him, too.

He's definitely given me something to think about this Christmas as I watch my lights sparkle and twinkle on the ceiling. What's he teaching you?

(The CCC women after decorating the tree)