This. This wrecked
Christmas Tree. This is totally a
picture of my year.
From the star that looks like it crashed into the tree at
the top to the lights falling off at the bottom (probably due to a cat fight
underneath), from the whole thing leaning to the right to the middle string of
lights that burned out a few days before Christmas, this tree has been my year.
The year started with my daughter spending a heart wrenching
week in the hospital, and it ended with the heart breaking end of my 27 year
marriage. Yeah, I have felt a lot like
this tree. Listing sideways with burned
out lights. Not quite sure whether I was
going to make it or not.
But you know what, the star is still burning brightly on the
top, and there are wonderful presents waiting underneath. Maybe it’s not perfect, but there’s still light
and life in this thing. A whole lot of
Light and Life. Because you see, the
Light in the star and the Life in the presents don’t come from the tree itself. No, the Light and Life of the Christmas tree
come from somewhere else entirely.
The Life and the Light in me don’t come from me either. They are the Gift that came 2000 years ago in
the form of a Baby. Immanuel. God with us.
I love that name of Christ.
Because as Feri Basci said to me many years ago in Romania, “When you
are most alone, Christ is with you.”
In that Gift of Immanuel, there is the promise of a
future. Because of Christmas, because of
Immanuel, Light and Life surround me and fill me and I will never, ever, ever,
ever, ever be alone.
The tree may be a wreck on the surface, but reality is that
there is a Hope and a future of Light and Life, and it is good. I am looking forward to it.
II Corinthians 4:6-11 For
God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shown in our hearts to
give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus
Christ. But we have this treasure in
jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to
us. We are afflicted in every way, but
not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not
forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying in the body the death
of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies. For we who live are always being given over
to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our
mortal flesh.
II Corinthians 5:4-5 For
while we are still in this tent, we groan, being burdened – not that we would
be unclothed, but that we would be further clothed, so that what is mortal may
be swallowed up by life. He who has
prepared us for this very thing is God, who has given us the Spirit as a
guarantee.
Romans 5:1-5 Therefore,
since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord
Jesus Christ. Through Him we have also
obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in
hope of the glory of God. Not only that,
but we rejoice in our suffering, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and
endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put
us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the
Holy Spirit who has been given to us.
Hebrews 13:5 … be
content with what you have, for He has said, “I will not, I will not cease to
sustain and uphold you. I will not, I will
not, I will not let you down.”
“In my deepest wound I found you,
Lord, and it dazzled me.” St. Augustine
©Rebecca A Givens, 12/31/14
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