Christmas Lights

I love the run-up to Christmas (not the run-up that starts in September, but the one that starts at the proper time, at the beginning of December).  I love the frosty, icy mornings, mulled wine, mince pies, starting to hear Christmas Carols and songs on the radio or when you're out shopping.

 

And I love seeing the Christmas lights that people put up, both in their homes and in towns and cities.

 

Turning on the lights has become a big event in recent years: often, a local celebrity will be invited to turn them on, and people will queue - sometimes for hours beforehand - to see the lights going on.

 

I find this quite amusing - at no other point in life is turning lights on a big deal.  I'm sure we all turn lights on at regular intervals throughout the day without ever noticing or caring.  We certainly manage the task by ourselves and without a crowd cheering us on.

 

Of course, most of the lights that we are turning on during the day are nothing like the light displays that we see around Christmas time.  And in recent years, there seems to have been an increase in the creativity and competition of Christmas lights - like the fantastic display at this local house which gets up to 300 visitors a day over the festive period.

 

 

But why do we like the light so much? 

 

There seems to be something within us which prefers light to dark, which celebrates lightness championing over darkness.

 

This is a story that is played out throughout the Bible and which peaks at Christmas (and, again, at Easter.)

 

John describes Jesus' birth like this:

"What came into existence was Life,
and the Life was Light to live by.
The Life-Light blazed out of the darkness;
the darkness couldn’t put it out."

 

[John 1: 4-5 MSG]

 

That's the thing about light, isn't it?  It always conquers darkness.  No matter how dark it is, light always wins.  A tiny flame from a tiny match will still be visible in the dark.  Lights from a city on a hill are visible for miles around, no matter how dark the night is.

 

Light always wins.

 

And whilst we take our Christmas lights down after Christmas and put them away until next year, Jesus is an ever-lasting, eternal light, who will always guide us and give us life.  In the words of one of my favourite carols,

 

"Yet in the dark streets shineth the ever-lasting light."

 

 

 

 

Ombre

Ombre. 

 

It's French for 'shade' or 'shades' and is a much nicer-sounding word for the current trend in dip-dyeing hair [where the ends of the hair are dyed, usually much lighter, than the rest of the hair].

 

Done properly, the aim is to for the different shades to be indistinguishable and for the lines between them to be blurred.

 

I have had a go at it this weekend.

 

The ends are not as blonde as I would have liked, but are definitely much lighter than the roots.  And I am very pleased with how well I have managed to blend the shades: it is almost impossible to see where the lighter shade begins.* 

 

The light and darkness blend together.

 

Symbolically, darkness and light are important in the Bible: darkness signifies our attempts to live independently - apart from God - and to sort out our own issues, and light represents a life lived in the loving presence of God, made possible through Jesus Christ.

 

Isaiah, prophesying Jesus' birth writes,

"That time of darkness and despair will not go on forever [...] The people who walk in darkness will see a great light. For those who live in a land of deep darkness, a light will shine."

[Isaiah 9:1-2 NLT]

 

It is through Jesus that we can leave our lives of directionless, disorientating darkness and walk in the light:

“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 NIV, emphasis mine] 

 

And it is in this "light of life" - the light of God's glory and love and forgiveness and grace and mercy - that we begin to find healing for our souls and direction for our lives.

 

This is the chorus of one of my favourite songs - 'Healing Begins' by Tenth Avenue North:

 

"This is where the healing begins, oh
This is where the healing starts
When you come to where you're broken within
The light meets the dark
The light meets the dark."

 

 

It is when the light meets the dark that healing begins.

 

 

 

 

* The trick, I have discovered, is to use an old toothbrush to apply the dye.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Light Therapy

Yesterday I wrote about seeing beyond the grey familiarity of our everyday world.

 

Today, I have managed to do exactly the opposite.

 

It didn't help that I was tired.  It didn't help that it was Monday.  And it certainly didn't help that the weather was grey and dull.

 

As the 'Summer' draws to a close and the nights draw in, it becomes increasingly difficult to see the sun or to remember what it feels like to sit out in the garden and enjoy a BBQ.  The warmth and the light of summer becomes a distant memory and it becomes increasingly difficult to see beyond the grey familiarity of our everyday world.

 

In recent years, the medical term SAD has been coined: Seasonal Affective Disorder.  It describes the "winter blues" from which many people suffer when they don't get enough sunlight.*

 

One 'treatment' for those suffering from this condition is "light therapy" in which a light box is used to stimulate the production of the 'feel-good' hormone serotonin. 

 

Sometimes when we are suffering from the "spiritual blues" and are struggling to see beyond the grey familiarity of our lives we need some 'light therapy" too.

 

The Bible describes God and His word as our light:

"The Lord is my light and my salvation."

[Psalm 27:1 NLT]

 

"O Lord, you are my lamp.

The Lord lights up my darkness."

[2 Samuel 22:29 NLT]

 

When we are surrounded by the gloom, we can trust God to light up our darkness.  If we immerse ourselves in His word and His truths, we will find His light brings the golden glow of hope into our grey lives.

 

 

* Perhaps this symptom could be redefined as 'British Affective Disorder'.


 

Packing Light

I am not very good at packing.

Or rather, I am far too good at packing.  I pack for every eventuality and weather condition.  I pack wellies alongside my swimsuit; suncream and sunglasses alongside my umbrella. 

I am prepared for anything.

Except I am always over-prepared.  I never need everything that I have packed and I end up lugging all of that excess weight around with me. 

And it is tiring.

I am going away tomorrow and have challenged myself to 'pack lightly'.  I have managed this once before (very successfully I might add), but it makes me feel really uncomfortable.  I don't like the feeling of being 'unprepared' or 'underprepared' for things.

I do the same in life sometimes as well.  I try to prepare myself for every eventuality or outcome.  I plan for different situations and 'carry' them around with me 'just in case'.

And that is tiring too.

Jesus knew our tendency to 'overpack' in life and to carry too much around with us - especially those things that we were never meant to carry.  He urged us to lay down our heavy bags and take up His light load instead:

"Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.  Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls.  For my yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light.” 
[Matthew 11:28-29 NLT]

When we pick up the load that Jesus gives us, we find that it is manageable and easy to bear.  We don't have to lug around our past mistakes or our failed dreams; we don't have to bear grudges or the sins of others; we don't have to carry our guilt or our shame; we don't have to carry the thoughts of who we 'ought' to be or who we thought we could be.

We don't have to carry more than we need to.

We can give all of those things to Jesus and take His 'yoke' which is easy to bear - a yoke of grace and forgiveness and love and acceptance.

Let's accept Jesus' 'yoke' and learn to pack light.