“A Christmas tree without lights in a darkened room is simply ominous.”
How often do you find yourself mesmerized by the lights on the Christmas tree? When I was but a lad (I have always wanted to write that) I would often lay on my back, with my head under the Christmas tree, and stare up through the branches, looking at a strange world.
I loved the smell of the tree and the colour of the lights as they filtered through the branches. Sometimes I would take my Big Jim or Major Matt Mason (remember those guys?) and ease them into the branches pretending that they were on a mission to rescue an endangered ornament or contain an out-of-control piece of tinsel. Usually my mom would come along and rescue the tree from me before my mission was fully deployed.
Sometimes, though, I would just lie under the tree looking up, smelling the smell and gazing at the lights. I can remember wondering if Jesus had looked up through a lighted Christmas tree like I was (I can be forgiven this theological faux pas because we had scant Christian influence as children, although I had a hazy understanding that Jesus was born at Christmas, thanks specifically to a Charlie Brown Christmas).
I was absorbed in those lights, their twinkle, their colour. They are what give life to a Christmas tree. They make the tree stand out. In a darkened room, a Christmas tree with lights is a joy and a wonder. It gives a glow to the whole room. A Christmas tree without lights in a darkened room is simply ominous.
Lights are perfectly suited to Christmas though. Jesus is the Light of the World. And he gives us light of our own. It is lit from Him and then shines into the whole world. We are the Lord's Christmas Lights! When I realised this one day, I realised that Jesus is gazing at the lights. He is looking at you and me, smiling when we twinkle, fixing us when we go out.
I love Christmas lights, and Jesus does too. Let your light shine this Christmas, let it shine to the whole world, and sing out the praise of a God who gave us His only Son, to light our way to Him!
Merry Christmas
Geoff Clarke
Geoff Clarke is a wonderful friend who serves with the Hammond Plains Christian Church in Nova Scotia, Canada.