It always makes me nervous... every year, Christmas Eve, being surrounded by people with candles... really it freaks me out.
But that's not the point.
We sat around the table, eating spaghetti in traditional Christmas Eve fashion, laughing and enjoying each other's company.
But that's not the point.
After opening our gifts to each other, we snuggled on the couch in our new pajamas watching "Charlie Brown's Christmas".
But, then again, that's not the point.
I stood in the church tonight, candle in hand, staring at the flame as the strains of "Silent Night" floated around me. Light... surrounded by darkness, eliminating darkness. It's warmth, erasing the chill from my fingers.
This past year, God has been reminding me of His light. I have been in some very dark places this year, experienced very real darkness and fear. But He is light. Even in the places I think are hopeless, broken beyond all repair, black and cold, He is there. The darkness must flee. Light always beats the dark.
The pastor urged us to take this light, the light in us that originated in a baby boy, and run to the darkness.
I must run to the darkness. But before I do, what am I doing with my light? Has it really made a difference? Or am I simply letting it warm my fingers while the rest of me shivers?
"You could have left us on our own, but you're here"-- words from my favorite Christmas song.
The light makes all the difference, because the light is here. The light made a choice to lose His glory, His splendor, cloak Himself in broken flesh, and walk among us so we no longer had to dwell in the cold.
The light surrounds, it floods, with a love and a warmth that are indescribable, that I am desperate for.
In two short weeks, my life is going to change forever. I can't help but wonder what next Christmas will hold... where I will be, who I will be with, traditions and moments that I treasure that will be replaced by new ones.
But if I dwell on that, then I miss out on the present... the gift of today.
If I let myself dwell on the fear of the unknown, I am in essence choosing to walk in darkness instead of light.
He is here, with us. His light remains with us... calling us just as it did shepherds, wise men, beggars, adulterers, cheaters, murderers, the wounded, the humble, the broken... to come and die, and in Him find light and life.
I choose Him. And when I choose to dwell in the light, then I can run with the light to the darkness.
"God is light, in Him there is no darkness at all. If we claim to have fellowship with Him, yet walk in darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth. But if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, His son, purifies us from all sin."
---1 John 1:5-7
But that's not the point.
We sat around the table, eating spaghetti in traditional Christmas Eve fashion, laughing and enjoying each other's company.
But that's not the point.
After opening our gifts to each other, we snuggled on the couch in our new pajamas watching "Charlie Brown's Christmas".
But, then again, that's not the point.
I stood in the church tonight, candle in hand, staring at the flame as the strains of "Silent Night" floated around me. Light... surrounded by darkness, eliminating darkness. It's warmth, erasing the chill from my fingers.
This past year, God has been reminding me of His light. I have been in some very dark places this year, experienced very real darkness and fear. But He is light. Even in the places I think are hopeless, broken beyond all repair, black and cold, He is there. The darkness must flee. Light always beats the dark.
The pastor urged us to take this light, the light in us that originated in a baby boy, and run to the darkness.
I must run to the darkness. But before I do, what am I doing with my light? Has it really made a difference? Or am I simply letting it warm my fingers while the rest of me shivers?
"You could have left us on our own, but you're here"-- words from my favorite Christmas song.
The light makes all the difference, because the light is here. The light made a choice to lose His glory, His splendor, cloak Himself in broken flesh, and walk among us so we no longer had to dwell in the cold.
The light surrounds, it floods, with a love and a warmth that are indescribable, that I am desperate for.
In two short weeks, my life is going to change forever. I can't help but wonder what next Christmas will hold... where I will be, who I will be with, traditions and moments that I treasure that will be replaced by new ones.
But if I dwell on that, then I miss out on the present... the gift of today.
If I let myself dwell on the fear of the unknown, I am in essence choosing to walk in darkness instead of light.
He is here, with us. His light remains with us... calling us just as it did shepherds, wise men, beggars, adulterers, cheaters, murderers, the wounded, the humble, the broken... to come and die, and in Him find light and life.
I choose Him. And when I choose to dwell in the light, then I can run with the light to the darkness.
"God is light, in Him there is no darkness at all. If we claim to have fellowship with Him, yet walk in darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth. But if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, His son, purifies us from all sin."
---1 John 1:5-7
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