Light

The people who walked in darkness

have seen a great light;

those who lived in a land of deep darkness

on them light has shined.

-Isaiah 9 

In the Word was life, and the life was the light of all people. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it…The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world.

-John 1

Every year as days grow shorter and shorter and it gets dark earlier and earlier strange things begin to happen.  We adorn our homes, our businesses, our public buildings, our public spaces, and our places of worship with light.  Lights appear in the forms of trees, stars, snowflakes, candy canes, snowmen, reindeer, and just about any other shape people can imagine.   Towns and neighborhoods have contests for the best lights.  Communities have nighttime parades with light covered floats. Cities outline their skyscrapers in lights. Candles burn in windows and Yule logs glow in fireplaces.

We call it Christmas.   Angels once proclaimed it as “Good News of great joy for all people.”  And the eventual bearer of that Good News shows us the way from darkness to light, a path that begins within each and everyone of us.

Maybe the lights of Christmas are simply kindling for the spark of hope in the darkness of our own lives, warming our hearts, bringing smiles to our faces, and lifting our Spirits.

"You are the light of the world…let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to God.”

-Matthew 5