They are showing Christmas movies on Hallmark Channel.

Gingerbread Latte’s are now available for your consumption.

And, I swear I heard Jingle Bells while in a store the other day. It can only mean one thing….

Christmas is officially upon us. 

I love Christmas, and odds are you do too. I love almost everything about Christmas, but one of my favorite things to enjoy every December is Christmas lights. The world just seems more at peace with Christmas lights strewn from pillar to post. Thousands of people load up cars and vans each year to just drive around and see the holiday lights.

You know what’s not beautiful? Christmas lights in the daytime. (see picture above) Horrible. Not impressive at all. Some things only make sense in the dark. Christmas lights at night are almost magical. They pierce the darkness and flood the faces of onlookers in blue, red, and golden hues. Their brilliance can be most appreciated in the absence of light. The darker the night, the more beautiful the lights.

That’s a pretty close reflection to real life. So many of us are dealing with dark things in our lives; depression, sickness, fractured relationship, stress at work. Most of the time it seems that there is more dark out there than light. As discouraging as it can be, however, we were made to shine into the darkness. Our hope, love, and forgiveness does it’s best work in places filled with hate, pessimism, and bitterness. I don’t think any of us are grateful for the difficult times that we have to endure, but it can bring a bit of peace to know that your light is all the more brilliant in those times. Don’t give up, even if it feels like your light isn’t being noticed at all.  The light you bring could be the one thing that someone else desperately needs!