Friday, December 25, 2020

For Christmas comes

 

December 25, 2020

The Nativity of our Lord

The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome (comprehend) it. (John 1:5)


Wait. Don’t turn away because the opening is dark. This is why Christmas is so bright ... because of the darkness. So linger a moment.

For darkness attends, even on Christmas morning: a bomb in a Nashville street, a woman and child run down by a driver too fast and too afraid to stop, the shrieks of those who love them rising from my morning paper; closer still, the sadness of joys denied and heartaches unhealed.

Darkness attends, but wait ... and watch.

Watch the dark places. Refuse to turn away, for light appears. It always does ... and will, including within you. That’s the way Light is, this One who raptures our hearts this day.

In these older years, I have come to prefer a translation of an ambiguous word that suggests the Light has always been shining, always, through creation and all history, but for the most part we fail to see and comprehend it.

The Light he is, the Light that is never overcome, always there, which means always here. And looking now into the face of the child who comes and loves beyond all human expectation ... now, perhaps, we might see a bit more clearly what always has been and always will be.

So we wait ... and look ... into the brightness  and the dark corners of life, knowing, always knowing Light will come to the cold, dark places in our hearts, so tempted to imagine sadness is the end of things, darkness the victor.

For light appears, and when it does savor it in your heart. Hold it in an open hand like a butterfly that has chosen to perch on your palm for a precious moment ... for reasons you will never understand. (For who can understand this Love?)

Just, do not grasp the moment. Don’t try to hold it fast. You need to keep your hand open, your heart quiet, ready to receive the next moment ... and the next ... and the next ... when light appears.

For Christmas comes ... the Light within all that is light ... to you.

Pr. David L. Miller

 

 

 

 

 

 

1 comment:

Debbra Troudt said...

Without the realization of 'the Light' how would we ever survive the darkness? At the dark moments of my life, I held on to the knowing that the Light was there , and I would some day see it again. It will never fail. Debbra Troudt