Faithful Friday: Christmas Lights

Driving my mom home this evening, she said something very wise, nestled between shopping bags from our successful outing.

Noah was asking me about our weekend and I was rattling off the packed agenda of the next 48 hours.  December is just a busy, busy month I reminded him.

"But it is also important to pause and enjoy it too," whispers Mom.

Yes, Mom, it is...

Even me, someone who pauses regularly in every day to find joy and give thanks, needs a reminder now and then. Although I'm cautious that what I put on my calendar is Christ-filled this month and focuses on family, it is also so very important to pause in the season and seek God.  To remember the reason and feel his very presence.  To let his light shine through us so that when we share the holiday with others, we show Christmas.

And so that is just what I did.  Shopping bags empty, pjs on, I sat in the stillness of the living room, with only the light from the tree and fireplace glowing.  No TV.  No phone.  No distractions.  Just me - and God. 
I soaked him up, breathed Christmas in...and it was beautiful.

May I be reminded to do this daily.  After all, a week of December has already come and gone...

"For God, who said, 'Let light shine out of darkness,' made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ."
 —2 Corinthians 4:6 (NIV)



my sweet nephew, Leeland, sleeping under the lights of our tree this December