Friends
Are you crazy about Christmas lights? I am. Apparently, even though my childhood has long since passed, that child-like love of sparkling lights has refused to fade. This week, I had a chance to experience an amazing show of Christmas lights, and as usual, it got me thinking.
+++
“When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, “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
RV life definitely has its perks, and I enjoyed one of them earlier this week. Last Monday, Eric and I loaded up our camper with our cold weather gear and drove about an hour to stay at the campground located inside Tanglewood Park near Winston-Salem, NC. This campground is a familiar haunt of ours, full of excellent walking paths and access to some exquisite gardens. We have enjoyed the spring flowers there on previous stays, but this time of year offers a special perk.
Tanglewood Park is a county park that has been dazzling its community with a Festival Of Lights since 1992. I have heard about its amazing light show for decades, and I am hear to say that it definitely lives up to the hype. It is incredible, offering one dazzling display after another during the 30+ minute tour through the park.
This light show is so popular that visitors wait for hours in lines of traffic just to get into the park. The line begins at the interstate exit and meanders for a couple miles to the park entrance. I have to say that all those parents get major brownie points in my book, because in all our young parent years, Eric and I never had the patience to wait in those long lines, thus depriving our young Jonathan of this dazzling spectacle. I now feel a little guilty, but don’t worry, not too much. I think we did alright by him! Ha!
But here’s the camping perk. Campground visitors receive a complementary pass to the light show, and even better, bypass all the lines of traffic! We simply rolled out of our campsite to the stop sign, where we were whisked right through directly into the amazing light show. Not only that, when we finished our tour, we didn’t have to exit the park, but were allowed to turn around and travel back through the park to our campsite, thus missing the exiting traffic congestion. See, I told you RVing has its perks!
For a girl who loves some Christmas lights, this was right up my alley. There were lighted squirrels scampering up trees, skiers doing the downhill, river rafters forging the rapids alongside dancing fish, while carolers sang their Christmas carols in front of a church. Lighted horses trotted around the ring near the equestrian center, while elves jogged across the fields. There were castles and reindeer, toy soldiers and festively adorned trees. Snowflakes floated down from above our truck window, and lighted Christmas bells somehow managed to ring out joyful carols. Perhaps my favorite sight was the peacock whose feathers lit up in a brilliant cascade of color. It was all just fabulous, and it went on and on and on.
I loved it all, because I love Christmas lights, but I was especially grateful that at the age of 63, I can still see those lights. I don’t see them normally, like you do, but I can appreciate their beauty using that ring of healthy far peripheral vision that has thus far escaped the ravages of my eye disease. That light display would have thrilled me at any point in my life, but it is particularly special to still be able to enjoy it in this season. For this bountiful gift, I am exceedingly grateful.
After our light tour on Monday evening, we took a walk through the park on Tuesday morning. All along the walking path, we encountered one light display after another. I was struck by the intricacies of the designs, but also by the narrow frame upon which the lights were strung. In comparison to the brightness of the lights emitted from each display, the frames seemed too slim and slight to shed such tremendous light.
Of course, that got me thinking, considering the reason for this season of Christmas, the baby born in Bethlehem. A baby, so small, so slight, born in a dark and lowly stable, yet destined to bring us light. He was far from big and powerful at the moment of his birth, but His impact on the world would be beyond powerful. Jesus became the light of the world, a light that more than 2000 years later has never been extinguished.
Those light displays at Tanglewood have to be put up and taken down every year, those display frames in constant need of repair and re-wiring. But Jesus came for you and for me, that we would have light and life abundant. His light is His gift to us. No need of constant repair and re-wiring, His light is always available to us. When we come to know Jesus, when we remember Him in our daily walk, we find His light, and it changes everything. It brightens our world.
I am still blown away by how those slender display frames could generate such powerful arrays of light, lights so bright that they could easily be admired from a great distance. That makes me think about you and me, how fragile we are in so many ways, how weak, how slight, and yet, we carry a light with the capacity to shine through the most devastating darkness. That light is always available to us, but we have to choose to let it shine. We have to choose to share it with those we meet and greet. We let that light shine through our kindness, our generosity, our love, and most of all, our hope.
Friends, let’s bring some joy today. Let’s offer some hope to a world in desperate need. Let’s choose to let our light shine for all the world to see.
All the way through that magical light tour, I felt like a child again, oohing and ahhing, a great big grin on my face. Those holiday lights brought loads of smiles that night, and will continue doing so every night throughout this Christmas season. The light we carry within us is even more powerful, even brighter than any man-made set of wires can produce. It has the capacity to bring joy and smiles all year long. Let’s let our light shine! Let it shine, let it shine, let it shine!
+++
““You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden.”
Matthew 5:14 – NIV
PRAYER
O Glorious God, thank You for the gift of Jesus, for His light that changed the world. Lord, may we choose to let our light shine, that it might dispel the darkness, and bring hope to a world that needs it so. Thank You, Jesus!
In the Shining Name of Jesus, we pray,
Amen
Advent Blessings,
Anita
-APS 12/4/2023
Faith Beyond Sight 