Light of the World

 

Two weeks before Thanksgiving, I drove over to my daughter's house for a short visit.  As I pulled up, I noticed that their neighbor across the street already had Christmas decorations in their yard!  I thought to myself that they must have been hanging around Hobby Lobby too long...they've had Christmas decorations out since June.  Perhaps her neighbors just couldn't wait any longer -- or maybe they were just stir crazy due to covid.  Who knows...it just seemed so early to me.  I still had a turkey to roast. 

Walking up to the house I knocked and the door opened with my three year old granddaughter beaming with excitement like I've never seen before!  "Gragga!" (She can't say Granna yet) "Gragga!  It's Christmas time!!"  And she jumped out the door pointing to the house across the street.  Puzzled, I looked at my daughter and she said, "Yes, we've already been out for a drive looking at Christmas lights.  You'd be surprised how many people have them up already."  Huh?!  But it's not even Thanksgiving yet!

Now I love Christmas lights too!  I've read that Germans started the tradition of Christmas trees and candles to light them.  The evergreen trees symbolized renewal and a continuance of life (a Christian principle) and the candles represented Christ, the Light of the world! I wonder how many people know that today?  

I just love lights period...I've loved them since I was very young.  It seems to me that when I was younger, lights were flashier and more colorful.  There used to be more neon lights...for hotels, restaurants, shoe stores, stores of all kinds.  The arm of a cowboy would magically wave in lights.  As a young teenager, I used to sit in the dark at my grandparent's kitchen table and look out at the highway lights a half mile away.  The Holiday Inn sign was my favorite with it's running yellow lights.  But the whole highway was aglow with businesses and traffic lighting the darkness.  Light invades the darkness but darkness can never overcome the Light...ever.  All lights represent Christ to me. 

Two thousand years ago, the Light of the world came to earth as our Savior to shatter the darkness so that we didn't have to live in it any longer.  It's this time of year when Christians around the world recognize His earthly arrival in the little town of Bethlehem.  In the fall of 2017, my husband and I visited that very city.  

A trip to Israel was on my husband's bucket list...not mine.  My faith was not dependent on seeing the Holy Lands.  I did not want to go.  I was scared to go.  But let me tell you friends, we saw some amazing sights.  Places and things I'll never forget.  I even read the scriptures with a different set of eyes now.  

We had a wonderful guide named Mike Rogoff.  He wrote the section on Jerusalem for Fodor's Travel Essential Israel.  He knew scripture and he brought it to life as we toured.  

Mike shared that there were caves in the hillsides around Bethlehem that were used as stables.  Since the second century, tradition holds that Jesus was born in one such cave.  Since Bethlehem was only a short distance from Jerusalem, the caves were used as birthing stables for sacrificial lambs to be offered in the temple.  They wrapped the legs of the newborn lambs with strips of cloth to keep them from falling and cutting themselves against the rocks.  They had to be spotless and without blemish.  I personally don't believe it was a coincidence that there was no room at the inn for this precious expectant mother.  

God knew exactly what He was doing.  I believe that Jesus, our sacrificial lamb, was precisely in the place where he was supposed to be born -- a stable where other sacrificial lambs were born.  His mother Mary wrapped him in strips of cloth that would have been readily available in such a place.  (Luke 2:7, Lev 4:32 and  I Peter 1:17-25)

In this picture, our guide, Mike, is standing beside a feeding trough or manger.  (It was taken at Megiddo and dated back to the 9th century -- the time of King Ahab!) Although the end is broken off, it was sized for feeding donkeys and horses.  Just such a manger, but a smaller version, would have been used to feed sheep -- the perfect size in which to lay the baby Jesus!   Cool, huh?!  

Jesus came to earth to live as we live.  He gets it.  He was a son, a brother, a teacher, a healer...  He was tempted, felt hunger, loneliness, betrayal, pain and ultimately death.  But He overcame death to live for you and me that we might have His light and life through eternity.  What kind of love is that?  Only the love of a Savior.  

Love till next time, 

Lanna           

For your consideration:  Luke 1:26 through Luke 2:21, Isaiah 7:14, Isaiah 9:6-7

John 1:1-14, John 8:12, John 12:46, Matt. 5:14-16 and I John 1:5-7                                               

It's Time to Be on Time

 

Recently I was invited to a bridal shower for one of my daughter's friends.  It was a Saturday and I was excited to be going with my daughter.  Mother's don't want to embarrass their daughters in front of their friends so I wanted to look my best.  So did you ever get up out of bed and things go down hill from the moment your feet hit the floor?  This was the day.

I had plenty of time.  I wrapped the present.  Steamed the dress I was going to wear -- a little clearance number I had saved for just such an occasion.  A glance of the clock before I jumped into the shower assured me I had plenty of time.  While in the shower, I was going over in my head what I still needed to do.  What shoes would I wear?  Sandals.  Sandals!  My toe nails!  They were half painted, half not.  So add to the to-do list:  Paint toe nails.  As soon as I got out of the shower, I got out my Sally Hansen's Leg make-up.  A wonderful product.  Only problem was, the tube was nearly empty.  I knew I had purchased another tube so the frantic search was on for the new tube.  Luckily I found it pretty quickly only to notice that the shade was medium--not light as my first tube.  "How different can it be?", I thought to myself.  Squeezing out a grape-sized amount into my hand and rubbing it onto my first leg, I realized it was a LOT different!  But I kept going thinking maybe it would be alright.

So I dried my hair and headed to the kitchen for nail polish.  (You know if you keep nail polish in the refrigerator, it lasts a lot longer!)  I grabbed a paper towel and headed back into the bedroom to paint my toenails.  Why I didn't stay in the kitchen where there was more light, I'll never know.  It would prove itself to be a mistake later.

So time is just ticking away.  I slapped on some makeup and headed for my tan colored dress.  I held it up to my legs which were clearly a lovely shade of orange...that clashed horribly with my dress.  There was no time to scrub off the orange, so it's time for Plan B.  Black slacks.  The bridal shower had a fiesta theme, so I found a top that would fit the occasion.  And of course, it had to be steamed.  Hurriedly, I filled up my little travel steamer, steamed the top, slapped on my clothes, grabbed the gift, kissed my husband and out the door I flew without a minute to spare.

Now every time I think I've got plenty of time and end up being late, I think about the ten virgins (or bridesmaids)...five wise, five foolish in Matthew 25.  Because the groom and his entourage would normally arrive after dark, the bridesmaids were responsible for their own lamps and the oil to fill them.  For whatever reason, the groom was late -- really late and the bridesmaids fell asleep.  At midnight, a call came out that the groom had finally arrived.  Can't you just see those young girls startled awake -- hair tousled, wiping away drool, hurriedly straightening their clothes and trying to regain their composure.  So the five foolish bridesmaids say to the wise, "Hey, share some of your oil with us!  Our lamps are going out!"  "Nope...go buy it for yourselves, we don't want to run out."  So the five foolish frantically run out for more oil.  They return only to find that the wedding party has already arrived at the ceremony location and the door is bolted shut.  Because they were late and not prepared, they were not allowed to enter.  It was considered an insult to the families and they were shunned by the whole community.

This was a parable Jesus told his disciples the week of his death.  It was in response to their questions about something Jesus had said earlier.  "Do You see these things?  Truly I tell you, not one stone here will be left on another;  every one will be thrown down."  Jesus was speaking of the destruction of Jerusalem which was to take place in 70 AD.  But the disciples asked two questions,  "When will this happen and what will be the sign of the end of the age?" First Jesus talks about the destruction of Jerusalem and then he speaks to the end of the world as we know it...a time that only God knows.  Matt 24:36.  He told the parable to teach that we should always be prepared.

Who knew as the year 2020 began that it would be so tumultuous?  For the past many months, if you turn on the news, you hear just like a drum beat...hate, hate, hate, hate. 

You should hate.

Don't you hate?

Why don't you hate?

You're stupid if you don't hate.

And if it's not hate, you should be afraid, be afraid, be very afraid.

It's the same mantra day after day, after day until you believe all the hatred and fear.  It's just like the abused child or woman who's been told over and over that they're no good...worthless.  It's not true, but if they hear it long enough and loud enough they believe it. 

There are evil instigators who stoke the flame and then back out to let the mob take over just like when Jesus was tried and crucified.  I hope that I wouldn't have been a part of the mob.

Many people have said these are signs of end times...especially with peace accords brokered with Israel and United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Sudan.  If it is the end times then awesome!  Lord come now!  But you know what?  It really doesn't matter!  For this very day your soul may be required of you.  We are not assured tomorrow.  Every day is a gift.  Do we really live it that way?  How do we treat others?  Think about how Jesus treated others.  He saw souls...the sick, the hurting, the young, the old, the lost.  He saw them where they were and treated them with compassion and grace so that they might be saved.  

A wise young woman told me, "I wish people could see with spiritual eyes...it's not parties against parties or race against race but heaven against hell fighting for souls."  I want to see people as Jesus saw them...with spiritual eyes.  If we don't have our stuff together now, then we need to get that way.

Time is of the essence and I want to be ready.

So my daughter and I made it to the bridal shower.  My feet were orange and my toe nails looked like they were painted by a three year old who couldn't color in the lines.  We were four minutes fashionably late.  Thank goodness they didn't lock us out.

Love till next time, Lanna

For your consideration:  Matthew 25:1-13, Matthew 24, Ephesians 6:10-18