A Light In the Darkness
I’m sure you decorated for Christmas. Tress and nativities, wrapping paper and stockings, sweaters and Advent calendars. All are expected ways we decorate to celebrate the season. We adorn the ordinary in ways that bring and offer us both comfort and joy.
For my house, I typically like Christmas to go up the weekend before Thanksgiving and for it all to come down the weekend after New Years. That seems like a reasonable amount of time.
This year, our Christmas is already in the boxes.
The most busy time of the year has the busiest décor. Our tree and décor lean away from the busy and gaudy. The house is outlined in a single stand of taught white lights, a glowing outline of our roofline. In a small house with few surfaces, the tchotchke décor is rather reserved. We go classic, with some of the crazier stuff totally absent or hidden. But it was still busy. And our season was full, to say the least. Professional, recreational, personal and relational obligations and interruptions filled our season. Unfortunately, those filled the season so much that Christmas was nearly pushed out of Christmas for some in my family. And for a couple of others, Christmas just wasn’t “Christmas” this year.
This is the main reason that the Christmas décor is already boxed up and in the garage. For some, the season just needs to end, in hopes of a more fulfilling next year.
My favorite line in Dinkens. A Christmas Carol is “I will honor Christmas in my heart and try to keep it all the year.” That is easier in some years than in others…
That said, I am still honoring Christmas after the décor is down. I am still reading an Advent book, one that devotes itself not just to the twenty-five days leading up to Christmas morning, but also continues through the twelve days of Christmas that follow. But that’s not all I do.
For several years now, I have kept my white lights on my house. I Am sure some see that and think I am a moron too lazy to climb up to pull them down. Not, it’s intentional.
The Gospel of John begins with a theological look at Jesus' birth, not a narrative one. I like stories, and prefer the angels and shepherds, wisemen and stars. But verse 5 is a perennial reminder that helps me honor Christmas in my heart and try to keep it all the year.
I leave my white Christmas lights up and turn them on when my family, or my world, or I need the reminder that “The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness can never extinguish it.” My lights are not the result of sluggish procrastination, but of spiritual practice. When I am sad or mad, when I am hurt or burnt, my lights get turned on. Rough day at work, social unrest, national tragedy, or family tensions? The lights go on. Flickering reminders that while things may seem dark, there is a Light whose way is way brighter.
The Christmas décor may be down, but the Christmas devotion remains.
Do you do anything to keep the Spirit of Christmas alive and kicking throughout the year? Of not, what could you embrace to help you be mindful of peace on earth, goodwill to all?
