I am seriously tempted to put up our Christmas tree early this year. I partially blame the cold temperatures and daylight savings on my attitude. However, it seems like many people are feeling like they want to decorate early. I've seen outdoor Christmas lights up even before Halloween this year! In my cynicism, (which I am seriously working on), I partially blame that article that came out in social media that claims people are happier when they decorate early for Christmas as the probable cause for this phenomenon.
But I also wonder and can't shake the fact that the atmosphere feels metaphorically darker than normal. The news...the negativity...the anger. Perhaps we are all craving the light and hope that Christmas brings just a little bit more than usual. But, we know that early Christmas lights and gifts are only an attempt at a placebo that will briefly take away the pain. We desperately long for the hope that the darkness won't win.
Which brings me, rather wordily, to one of my favorite Akina stories from camp. We sang a song with the kids at chapel that very simply goes like this: "Jesus, Jesus, you make the darkness tremble. Jesus, Jesus you conquer fear.." The kids LOVED it. They asked to listen to it again, and again, at night when they were going to bed, in the morning when they were getting ready.
The best part was one little girl who seemed to really "GET" it. One day she pulled her leader aside and asked, "Does Jesus really make the darkness tremble?"
"Yes," her leader replied confidently. "The name of Jesus makes the darkness leave!"
"Wow!" said the girl. "We usually have to do so many things to try and make the darkness leave at my house, and even THEN it doesn't always work."
This same little girl has been coming to Akina regularly now, loving to learn about God and asking to read in the Bible about how Jesus loves her!
SO, in this time, when darkness seems like it is winning, we can know: it isn't. It won't. But as for us, we know "that our Redeemer lives, and he will stand upon the earth in the end." Job 19:25
We who place our trust in Jesus, who have come to know our Savior, believe the darkness trembles at the name of Jesus because it knows it has already lost.
So, decorate early, be happier, but also remember that the true light who gives light to every man has come into the world! Yay! (John 1:9)
