Christmas Lights

It took me forever to take the blown out lights off of the garland that hangs over our front door. They have held up great for years but even Christmas lights have a limit....and they had hit theirs...the red ones had flailed. There were two separate cords and were tangled up in such a crazy way...I had to wonder who would have put these on here in such a haphazard way...knowing that the answer was clearly me. And it was me who would pay for it in the end. So there I sat patiently watching football...and untangling that which I had tangled.

I am convinced that Christmas lights can bring out the best and worse in us...no matter where we use them. As my husband would come in and out of the house, while attending to his own chores, to check on my progress...he made a comment...in a sweet way...saying that is why he has such a methodical system in putting out the lights in the front yard. He knows he will have to undo what he has done...and the process will be repeated again the next year. The comment was made because this year I helped with outside lights and he was so particular about how they were to be connected....that it truly was a joke to me...until at the end I saw the results of how carefully executed connections to the extension cords and the ultimate light sections worked. There really is something to be said about an organized method....but I have to say that comes much more natural to some than it does to others....me!

We do end up having to undo sometimes that which we have made a mess of....and are convicted to try again to begin anew with a different format of thought and action. And depending how tangled we have allowed things to get out of impatience, or lack of understanding or forgiveness etc...we are in for a much more tedious process of redoing or undoing than would have been if we would have done it right the first time.

Aren't there times when you wish you would have said something different or not even spoken at all...and the same thing with actions? We all have pockets of tangles...that we end up having to address either internally or externally. But kind of like the lights....the choice is to add another a string of confusion to an existing situation or take off the old and put on the new.

God sees the messes we make...in our own lives, in relationships to others, in choices we have made, in decisions we have come to without first consulting Him etc. It must really make him smile and think ...they know I am here...I am willing and I am able to help...why is it that they continually try to do this life deal alone? What is it that they don't get?

His choice for us is to take off the old and welcome HIS new...and if we are in a tangle..ask Him to help us know where the knots and the kinks are and unbind them. (Just a note here...the kinks and the knots, I have found, lie mostly in my own doing...not someone elses!..simply example: the garland lights)

I want to shine without blemish, without burnout, without need for replacement. But just as the Christmas lights have their limits, we have our limits as well....I cannot and am not expected to shine without a connection to Christ that enables me to do my best and shine my brightest. His power is without blemish, without fade, without need for replacement! I run out of stream using my own power, my light becomes weak, and pretty soon I crater to the pressure that is about me.

It is Christ who can untangle my weary ways and give me a fresh beginning. It is Christ who enables me to burn brightly ....for it is His light, His spirit within me that is reflected in the light outside of me. And when my lights begin to fade...or burn out completely it is only because I have allowed the switch to Christ's generator to be flipped.

The old..is my way...the new is Christ's way. I am such a slow learner but I am quite grateful that I have a patient teacher. I will continue to tangle things up....whether they be in relationships or duties...because I am, just as you are, in the methodical process of being organized and "transformed" by God...if I am to have repeat my actions ....better that my actions be powered by God than me. For his actions are worth repeating...and are generated by a spiritual power that is well above my tiny mindset that is human generated. If I allow Christ to place his sting of lights within me, upon me, around me and about me...in an order that he sees fit, I am quite sure that they will be a decoration that will give him an ultimate glory.

No need hanging on to the old and worn out...let God, THIS DAY, help you to organize and transform, in your life, those things that have gotten into a great tangle. Let HIM give YOU a fresh set of His perspective so that you can shine for His glory....in all that you are and he has purposed you to be. Oh what a shining light we all will be when we enable Christ to be the power that generates us!

Isaiah 60:1
"Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the LORD rises upon you.

Dear Lord...We all want to shine ...and to shine without a tired and faded countenance...but help us to want to shine for YOU and not just for ourselves and for others to see! ...And then help us to allow you to give us the courage, the patience and the discipline to make the adjustments in our lives that would glorify you and let your light shine through us. Amen

Arise, Shine by Phil Keaggy
Arise, shine for your light has come,
Arise, shine for your light has come.
And the Glory of the Lord has risen upon you,
And the Glory of the Lord has risen upon you.

Arise, shine for your light has come
Arise, shine for your light has come.
And the Glory of the Lord has risen upon you,
And the Glory of the Lord has risen upon you.

For darkness has covered the earth,
And darkness has covered the people.
But the Lord will rise upon you,
For the Lord has risen upon you,
And you shall wear His Glory,
And you shall bear His Light.

Arise, shine for your light has come,
Arise, shine for your light has come.
And the Glory of the Lord has risen upon you,
And the Glory of the Lord has risen upon you.

Praise God wherever you are and whatever situation He has allowed you to be in . . . His glory will shine through!