We three strings

Christmas has been a very tough time for me the past few years. It's harder for my kids to come home, so we celebrate a little later in the year, and usually not with everyone. And my dad passed away right before Christmas and that makes the season a little melancholy. But for the first time since I started living alone, I have a Christmas tree this year. I even decorated my desk at work. And if everything goes as planned, I will be baking Christmas cookies next weekend.

I decided the only thing stopping me from getting into the Christmas spirit was ME. And now... the lights on my Christmas tree. The lights worked fine for two days and then the middle of the three strings decided to quit. I messed with them a little one evening, but no luck. I just decided to live with it the way it was. Besides, the strings at the top and bottom still worked and the one at the top was what everyone saw from the window. Good enough for me. But a few days later when I plugged them in, the strings at the top and bottom stopped working and now the middle one was on!

I spent a whole evening trying to figure out that silly thing and all I got was frustrated! I haven't plugged it in since then. It's really pretty in the daylight, but a bit dull once the sun goes down.

My Christmas tree is kind of pathetic looking, tucked in the corner, all dark and boring. No lights. No twinkle. Kind of like Christians who have forgotten their purpose on this earth.

We, as believers, are to let light shine out of the darkness. We are to shine JESUS. We are to shine the gospel. And this dark world of ours needs LIGHT! I'm not saying stand on the street corner and pass out Bibles, although that's not a totally bad idea. I'm saying live our lives in a manner that those around us can see Jesus. Let your life shine Jesus.

One of my favorite verses is Mark 12:30-31 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ If we just did that and that alone, we would GLOW Jesus! Because if we just did the first verse 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength' everything else would fall into place. Loving others would happen, sharing the gospel would happen... lighting the world would happen.

I can't help but think of the song my girls used to sing when they were little. This little light of mine, I'm going to let it shine. This little light of mine, I'm going to let it shine. This little light of mine, I'm going to let it shine. Let it shine, let it shine, let it shine. It seems so simple, and we make it so difficult. Why? Why do we make it so difficult to love people like Jesus would or see them through His eyes?

Just like the Christmas tree lights, we need to be plugged in. We need to be plugged into God every day. If He is not our source pf renewal, there will be no light. What goes in is what comes out. If we rely on the world to renew and refresh us each day, then the world and its power is what will come out of us. But if we plug into God and His word each day, His power and His light is what will come through us. We have a choice.

If I'm being totally honest, there are days when I make neither choice - at least that's what I tell myself. I get overwhelmed by life. I don't look at Facebook. I don't turn on the TV. I don't open my Bible. I take a "timeout" day. I listen to a little bit of praise and worship music (I have it on everywhere, even in the car) and I convince myself that's good enough for the day, but it's not. You see, by doing nothing, I've done exactly what the world wants me to do... NOTHING. I haven't refreshed. I haven't renewed. I haven't plugged in. I am unseen - like the tree standing in the corner of my living room. No matter how many people drive by or walk past my building, no one is ever going to notice it.

Nothing = nothing. No sparkle. No light. No gospel. No Jesus. We need to plug into Him for renewal - for spiritual refreshment. And the world needs to see Him through us. They need to see us sparkle with His love, with His joy, with His peace.

This little light of mine, I'm going to let it shine. Let it shine, let it shine, let it shine.

2 Corinthians 4:6, ESV

For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.