The Mystery of Lights - Reflection

My neighbour puts up his Christmas lights in mid-November. I don’t think anyone minds - I suspect many of us are grateful - for those tiny colored lights bring a sweetness into winter 's long night. As my car headlights swing past them, my heart smiles...yes, I think it really does. Something in me sighs with relief at the sight of them, as if, in that moment, I am reminded of the life and color of summer - a host of bright poppies maybe, or fresh greens from the garden.

 Ironically, the lights of the Christmas season can also shine with sharp relief on things in our lives that are hard to see. With all the cultural focus on the 'perfect family' or the perfect gift or the perfect life, Christmas can remind us of the brokenness of things as much as anything; it is truly a hard season for some.

Despite the common depiction of Christmas as a kind of desired perfection, surely the manger scene - aka, an unheated baby room filled with braying, breathing, and pooping animals - might be our first clue that our human "ideal" of Christmas isn't nearly deep or brave enough to reach what is truly going on. For while the Christchild's life began with a great star, angelic fanfare and some pageantry, it is also true that Jesus' life led him profoundly into the realities of being human. The Christmas event, and all that ensued, conveyed God's undismayable willingness to stand with us in our darkness and in our light. Our Messiah does not draw apart, protecting Divine Light with his hands to keep it unsullied - this Light stands at the heart of whatever reality we inhabit, wholly given over to loving us in it.

I turn off my ignition, sit in the quiet darkness of my car, looking over at those strings of colored lights. They seem quite unperturbable, burning steadily and continuously, though my sight of them can flicker amid the falling rain or snow. Whatever weather comes, those lights burn through it, as long as they're connected to their current.

Light is a gift; it's always with us, even when we can't see it. When it's dark on our side of the planet, the light shines steadily on the other side; it's only a matter of time till it returns. Christmas lights help us remember light's constancy, how it fills and nurtures our lives.

When you think of it, light is not really something we create; it's something we tap into, something inherent to life on this earth. Light has been, and is always being, given. I wish I knew more about physics; I wish I could comprehend it further. Stephen Hawking, and many others who have, and continue to, pursue understanding of light itself, find themselves taken into deeper and deeper realms of mystery. Who can come to the end of light?

We are surrounded by clues really. Clues of a deeper ever-present reality that does not change. That undergirds everything. The small colored lights can be a reminder of a much greater light that continually shines in the darkness. Despite our darkness. "The people who walk in darkness have seen a great light."

One could say that being connected to light is core to being alive. What connects you?

From Melody G.