Coffee and Christmas Lights
Here we are with the Christmas Holiday season upon us once again. And that
means it's time for the local "Holiday Display" contest here in town. All around
town we have people putting up their Christmas decorations and putting up their
Christmas lighting displays. . . Which means of course, that my neighbor, who is
affectionately known throughout the neighborhood as good, old Crazy Charlie,
will try once again not to be outdone.
So, there was Crazy Charlie out in his front yard on Saturday, with all the
decorations and Christmas lights strewn all over the place. He had his Christmas
music blaring away for the whole neighborhood to hear, as he busily worked at
putting up the decorations. And of course once again, just like every other
year, you could hear him fussin' and a cussin' above the music as he desperately
tried to untangle all of those Christmas lights.
Finally, after several hours of his fussin' and a cussin', good old Charlie had
all the lights and decorations in place. By that time it was already dark
outside and it was time to light up the display (or to be honest, the whole
neighborhood ). Standing out on my front porch I anxiously awaited the "Grand
Lighting Up of Crazy Charlie's House".
With the "Little Drummer Boy" blaring away, Charlie plugged in the lights and
WHAMMO . . . in the blink of an eye, the whole neighborhood was lit up bright as
day!
I went back inside, poured myself a cup of coffee, and sat by the fireplace to
ponder the whole thing. I thought of all the people in town putting up their
Christmas lights and Holiday displays in hopes of winning the coveted award of
having it proclaimed as the best display in town.
I thought of good, old Crazy Charlie and how hard he had worked at that display
of his . . . And how he lit up the entire neighborhood with all those Christmas
lights of his.
Then I thought of how much better, how much brighter, the whole world would be
if all those people putting up Christmas lights were to know the True Light of
the World.
The Light of the World as we read in John 8:12:
"Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that
followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life."
How much better the whole world would be if we all carried that light within us
as we read about in Psalm 27:1:
"The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? the LORD is the
strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?"
and how much better things would be in this world if we carried that light
forward to share it with others as we read in Matthew 5:14-16
"Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid.
Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick;
and it giveth light unto all that are in the house. Let your light so shine
before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is
in heaven."
Just a thought over coffee!
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