Christmas Lights

When our girls were little, one of the favorite December activities was to bundle everyone up at night, climb into the car and go searching for Christmas lights.  (Our oldest daughter learned her left from her right during this adventure one year--"Christmas lights on the right;  Christmas lights on the left," she would say.)  We would ride through neighborhoods and our family would rate the festive displays with words like "pretty," "classy," "tacky," "REALLY TACKY."  Then we giggled with delight and anticipation as we went on to look for the next bright yard.

We saw light-up Santas and nativities, twinkle light covered Christmas trees, houses outline in large red, green, blue and yellow bulbs.  And then there was my favorite--single white candles in small paned windows. 

This tradition of a single candle burning in a window goes all the way back to colonial times.  It alerted onlookers that a loved one was away from home.  A homeowner would leave a candle burning in the window to symbolize lighting the way home for their faraway family member.  Today military families still light those candles.

And this practice is no different than when our daughters were out late with the car--we would leave the light on and we didn't sleep until the girls were safe at home and off to bed. 

Two thousand years ago a father's son left home.  I've often wondered, did that father throw a going away party the night before his son left.  Did that father begin a calendar counting down the days until his son's return?  Did the father leave his son's room untouched until he came home?

One thing I do know that father did, was to set a light in place to let the world know that his son was away from home but he had gone to be with us.  God set a star in the sky to announce the birth of his son, Jesus--the light of the world.  Each time I see a tremendous star in the sky, I think of the father's love and sacrifice it took to give up his son's immediate presence to shed light into my life.

In the Gospels, Jesus said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”