An attempt at en-‘light’-enment

It’s amazing what a difference a little light can make.

When I was a teenager and before I came to know my wife as girlfriend, my buddies and I were some mischievous fools in the dark. We would creep through the neighborhood and steal Christmas lights. 

Just “one,” meaning we would sneak up, take it out and run away, and in most cases that one light missing would make the whole thing go dark.

Well, there was this one house I remember well. It had a huge cedar bush right out by the street. It was fully decorated in those approximate one-inch screw-in type bulbs. I snuck up. I removed one. It went dark as we ran away laughing.

The next night, we just happened to be out after dark when we happened by the same house again. The bulb had apparently been replaced, because it was in full bloom again. 

A “light” (bulb) came on: “I wonder how they would respond if it happened a second day in a row?” 

I sneaked. I loosened … careful… careful… lights went out. We ran for all it was worth.

Day three. You’re thinking: “No way are you that stupid.” I’m thinking: You don’t know me. Even with the thoughts of sugar plum … no, wait … even with the thought the owner might be waiting for me with a shotgun, I snuck. I loosened. The lights went out and we ran.

Fast forward to 10 years later. I’m married to my wife. We’re sitting around the dinner table at her parents’ house. It’s Christmas time. The conversation is going here and there and everywhere and then all of a sudden it gets mentioned that someone back in the day “stole” their Christmas lights. 

Not only that, but the did it “three straight days!” I don’t know if a neon light came on flashing “guilty” above my head, or I just had that look on my face, but my wife looked at me and she didn’t balk for a second: “Do you know something about that?”

I confessed. I lived to tell the tale, but it took some time to earn back their trust.

This holiday season don’t steal anybody’s lights (metaphorically and physically). It may come back to haunt you like the ghost of Christmas past one day.

We have a new (old) insert machine. You probably read about it last week. During Thanksgiving week, we crammed five days of printing into three. We ran that thing pretty much constantly, with twice as many flyers due to holiday sales.

Every now and then something would go wrong and this tiniest of red lights would come on. When it did everything would stop and it would not go green until whatever happened – jam, thrown out clutch, et cetera – was fixed.

It hampered, slowed down, stopped and frustrated what we were trying to do.

This holiday season don’t let red lights stop you. (Except traffic stops, you silly goose!) Fix what needs to be fixed … relationships, anger, bitterness, thanksgiving shortsightedness, et cetera … so that you can get your life back where it needs to be, moving forward toward happiness and joy.

Jesus said, “A city on a hill cannot be hidden (Matthew 5:14b).” Some scholars believe he was seeing in his mind’s eye the city of Sepphoris, how when he was a young child living in his hometown of Bethlehem he could look out and “Herod’s jewel” lit up the night sky from afar.

This holiday season don’t let your light be hid under a bushel (Matthew 5:15 and Luke 8:18). Help those in need. Love. Give. Sacrifice. Be the light!