'Twas the Write Before Christmas: The Brightest Light

"But Nothing is Impossible with God." Luke 1:37

It began heavy coated with darkness -- evil showing its face apparent Friday morning in the slaying of innocent lives in Newtown, CT, darkness trying to overshadow the third weekend of Advent.

I wanted to hide, crowd around the Light of Jesus, the only light that burns bright enough to set aglow a blaze of hope in the blackened sky.

I didn't want to go anywhere this weekend. I wanted to tuck safely my family in the comforts of our house, sit together in the soft shimmer of our Christmas tree and hibernate the weekend away

bask in the Light of Jesus

and keep far from the darkness that threatens to overshadow our land

because it seems impossible that the candle of Hope we hold in our meek hands

could burn bright enough to make light a world where small children are killed in a slew of evil rage

where women are sold into slavery daily

where lives waste away for lack of food and water.

****


It began in darkness -- the first Advent, the Christmas.

And in silence -- 400 years worth of silence from God,

His people waiting for a word, left to grasp onto a Promise made

that a deliverer would come and rescue them.

That first Christmas was thick with waiting,

darkness coating the land

people longing for a Promise fulfilled

longing for Light to sweep over the horizon and fill the sky with bright ways

that would wipe out the darkness, the hopelessness that had settled over the land.

****

Impossible.

It seems impossible that a girl who'd never come together with a man would be heavy with child.

That angels would appear to men and proclaim the Promises soon to be fulfilled.

That 400 years of silence from God would be broken by the cries of a newborn baby.

That God would first tell shepherds, the lowest of men, of the newborn King.

That a sweet baby, born humbly in a stable, would redeem us, would deliver the world from darkness not through sword and slay

but through death where the Light absorbed all the darkness of the world.

Impossible.

But what seems most impossible of all is that the same God who created millions of stars in the sky, millions of cells in our body, would leave His Heavenly home and come near.

That Jesus was Immanuel -- God with us, Light in the darkness.

"But nothing is impossible with God."

****

I drag myself out of the house, reluctantly follow my family into the darkness covering thick our world, make our way into a busy weekend, the third weekend of Advent and hold meekly my candle of Hope burning, burning, burning ... looking for another wick to pass along some light.

It seems impossible, to set such a world of darkness ablaze with His light, His hope.

But so did a virgin birth, a baby king, a God who came near.

I remember the darkness in which they waited for any word

any light

any hope.

It seemed impossible.

"But nothing is impossible with God."

I look at my hands, holding my candle

His Promise of Light

holding close the very God who came near

who is near.

It seems impossible.

We thread our arms and heart cries together with others in prayer.
We hold open doors and speak kindness through well wishes to ears longing for those words.
We open-arm embrace through hugs those who need the warmth.
We bring gifts to those who have not.
We speak Love and Truth to friends.
We scrub dishes and prepare food and soft beds.
We hug our kids when they are hard to love
and offer love when our hearts are shredded into pieces.

We live with His Light shining bright through us. 

And we remember the brightest Light

sets the world aglow

not in a fierce blaze

but by

candle of Hope

by candle of Hope

by candle Hope

one heart

at

a time.

Jesus said in Matthew 5:

"You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven."

If you are a heart looking for Light in the darkness, may I suggest reading Luke 1-3? Or listening to Christmas Wrappings: Wrapped in Prophecy?

Join us for 'Twas the Write Before Christmas here