A little boy was standing in his yard one sunny day when he noticed his shadow for the first time. “Mommy, Mommy,” he shouted, “what’s that dark thing?”
“Oh, that’s only your shadow, dear,” she answered.
“I’m scared of it, Mommy. I don’t ever want to see it again!” he said, tightly shutting his eyes.
Suddenly his mother had an idea. Turning his little body to face the other direction, she said, “Honey, open your eyes. See, the shadow’s gone.” “How’d it happen?” he asked happily.
“I turned you toward the sun,” she said. “When you keep your face to the sunshine, you can’t see the shadow.”
Your past is like a shadow, following you wherever you go. So, keep looking to the Light of the world (John 8:12) and you won’t be scared by your shadowy past.
Tags: light, past, shadow, sin
The other week Anita and I went down to the Fire Barn here in Waterloo to watch our grand-kids’ reaction to their first visit with Santa Claus. Raegan, just short of two years old, was not very cooperative. She refused to sit on his lap or have her picture taken with him. She would observe from a distance, but that was the limit.
Of course, Santa was not going to harm her in any way, but she must have thought that in her mind. By the time Christmas actually gets here she will have seen Santa in many other situations and might change her mind by then. Its what we don’t understand that puts fear in our hearts.
So it is with God. When we don’t understand His ways or purposes, we tend to fear trusting Him. We try to hide from Him our real lives. That’s why its important that we understand that Jesus is the Light of the World and came to enlighten us in the ways of God. Let Him turn the light on for you this Christmas.
Tags: Christmas, fear, light, Santa
I’ve done a lot of weddings over the years. The most memorable weddings are the ones where something goes wrong. I can remember one wedding that occurred in this building years ago. The couple had chosen a ring bearer that likely had a tinge of ADHD going on.
The wedding was proceeding according to plan, but that ring bearer was simply too bored to just stand there, so he wandered around behind me over to the bride’s side and began blowing out candles on the candelabra, one at a time. He wasn’t that tall, but apparently had a pretty good set of lungs. I was concentrating on what I was doing, and the bride’s maids didn’t want to interrupt the formality of the wedding, but the guests all saw what was happening and had a good chuckle.
Jesus told us to “let our light shine before men”. Although others may try to blow our light out, we must let it keep shining. How else will people see what burns within us? How is your light shining today?
Tags: light
Christmas Eve! These verses from the Christmas story come to mind: “And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks by night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them” (Luke 2:8-9). We don’t know what time of day Jesus was born, but we do know the time the angel appeared to announce His birth: “at night”.
I think the significance of this is that we live in a dark, ungodly world. Jesus is the Light of the World clouded in darkness. The shepherds had no problem seeing the angel in the dark, so it must have been enlightened, as well.
When we’ve made room for Jesus, the whole world around us becomes enlightened because of the light that resides within us. Have an enlightened Christmas.
Tags: Christmas, darkness, light