Lights

I have been thinking about lights since last Thursday night when I attended one of my favorite holiday traditions - the Lighting of the Trees. The city of Fairhope, for those who have never been, has lined the downtown streets with Bradford pear trees. Over the years they have gotten quite large. Each year the city electric crews spend several weeks stringing millions of white lights in all the trees. On the Thursday before Thanksgiving they close down the center of town and everybody comes out and waits for the Mayor to flip the switch and turn on the lights. The whole thing lasts about 20 minutes but there are tons of people and everybody joins in the countdown and does the ooh-ahh thing when they appear. It is worth the walk down 2 blocks to see the looks on kids faces when the lights come on. We were standing with our former neighbors and Sam the 4 year old was on his dad's shoulder. He missed it last year so this is the first year he has really been able to really appreciate the moment. The look of wonder on Sam's face was priceless! The lights stay on thru the middle of March. It is my very favorite time of year to walk. Since I live near town I can walk down the streets each night after supper.

All this thinking about lights reminded me of the verse in John 8:12 where Jesus said, "I am the light of the world. He who follows me shall not walk in darkness but, have the light of life." That verse led to these verses in Matthew 5:14 &16, "You are the light of the world, a city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify Your Father in heaven."

What a great reminder for the holiday season. The holidays are usually stressful anyway and add the economic troubles on top of that and the dark gets a little darker. Those of us with the "light of the world," need to make sure we don't hide that light.

Hope you light of the corner of the world where you live this holiday season.