You may not share my love of all things bright and twinkly. But please consider these three reasons why we might need a few more Christmas lights this year.
One: Because winter is dark.
I’m writing at my day job while I wait for the last patients to be seen. It is 4:50 pm, and the automatic lights just popped on in the foyer. The sun has set. During these months, some folks in the Midwest leave for work before daylight and return home after dark. That, Dear Reader, is not fun. We desperately need twinkling points of light to hold back this darkness. Nothing is better on a long, evening commute than seeing Christmas lights flicker on all over the countryside. It is a little bit of hope that the darkness can never win.
Two: Because we need to be merry.
You may not have noticed, but life is tough sometimes. Taxes, terrorists, Tuesdays. They all add up and try to steal our peace-on-earth and joy-to-the-world. Decking the halls is a great anti-dote for despair. It is hard to believe all is lost when you sit in the glow of Christmas lights and listen to the words, “And it came to pass in those days.”
Three: Because they point to the future.
I think the true reason we love Christmas lights is because they give us a small taste of what Heaven will be. If you read the last two chapters of the Bible, you will see the apostle John trying to describe his supernatural vision of the new Heaven and new Earth where we can live someday. This is where we get the idea of streets of gold and a pearly gate. John was using precious gems and metals to describe something indescribable. The beauty, the light, the dazzle. It was actually beyond words. Life in Heaven must be the greatest Christmas light display ever created. And, we don’t have to take it down in January!