by Joanne Wiklund
With an epidemic of madness in the world, we have so many feelings of grief, even for people we’ve never met. When I heard of the New Orleans tragedy and the bombs in Las Vegas, I shuddered like the rest of you. Not again. Not now. Why? I learned as a child that bad things happen to good people.
As Christians we are to be Salt and Light. Darkness creeps into our hearts and souls if we let it. Choose Light, the Light we know as Jesus. Spread Joy. I’ve said before, I’ve lost my Joy many times. Each time I must choose to find it and bring it back. Christmas brings us Joy. Our furry friends bring us Joy. Children of all ages, even the new ones on the way bring me Joy. I am privileged to have a wild and wonderful family and many friends that bring me Joy. The Word of God, His book, brings me Joy. TBN brings me Joy. Our family at Countryside brings me Joy. Light, how much Joy it brings us at this time of year. For some reason this year again, our Christmas tree will not light all the bulbs.
Our tree is our family tree. We were in one of the deepest pits we’d ever been in when our daughter passed twenty years ago. I knew our young grandchildren were expecting Grandma to put the tree up. I got the decorations out and was set to hang them. I couldn’t do it. Memories too painful to recall came at me. What could I do to decorate the tree? I bought shiny, plastic gold balls, and made of list of all our family members far and wide. I took my craft paints and painted each person’s name on a ball and hung it on the tree. Each of these twenty years the balls have been rehung. None of the paper decorations made by my little children have made it on there any time. At one point not too long ago I counted balls when I took them down and there were 73 of them.
In the dark it seriously looks a little ratty. This morning with sunshine coming in the nearby windows, it was authentically a Christmas Tree, a seven foot sparkly Christmas Tree. My grandson, The Big Guy put it together for me just before Christmas, as he did last year and with his brothers all through the years. I’m so proud of him hanging in there this year. Joy. It was a Joy to have him here. To laugh at our attempts to make a Christmas Tree with what we had to work with. Charlie Brown would have been proud. This morning in Son’s Light it is now officially a true Christmas tree. I am blessed. Happy New Year. Let us work hard to make that come true in our world, our homes and our families. Take Joy out to those tender souls with shattered hearts, lost loved ones and remind them God is good, all knowing, caring and with us always, no matter what our Christmas Tree looks like.
Matthew 4:23 “And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the Gospel of the kingdom, and healing all manner of sickness and all manner of disease among the people.”
Matthew 4:14 “Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hid.”