Light Up The Tree

   As I walked this morning, I could not help but notice that people, who had arisen already, were showing their Christmas trees to the outside world with their lights. A lot of the houses that I passed were still asleep, but there were several that had their lights blinking into the darkness of their world.

   Through the years of decorating Christmas trees, both as a child and as an adult, there is still the anticipation and the joy of plugging in the lights and seeing the tree come alive. The house is much warmer, and the smiles come easier when we are around that tree.

   What do I most remember about those times of long ago? Well, the one memory that still comes to mind, even though it is not very awe inspiring, is when we lived on Tunnel Blvd. in Chattanooga. The house I grew up in had a coal furnace, way back before electric and gas heat pumps, and the heat from that furnace was distributed throughout the house by a system of ducts that fed to a metal register in each room.

   We had a special spot for our Christmas tree, and that spot in the living room was right next to the metal heat outlet. When you would stand on the grate and plug in the lights to the tree, you would get a mild electric shock. I guess there was a short in the cord or something, but we would take turns standing and plugging in the lights and thought it was great fun. A little sadistic perhaps, but that is the "fun" that I remember.

   It is said that, from the earliest time that people started putting candles on Christmas trees, the light pointed to the light from the star that God placed in the sky to light the spot of the birth of the Christ Child. The darkness of a hurting world was dispelled by the Light of God, at least to those who saw it shining.

   There will be individuals and families this Christmas who may not even want to turn on the lights on their tree. Their world has crashed around them, and their thoughts may be far from the joy of the season. They need what the lights have to offer, but just can't seem to find that way to turn them on.

   Then there will be those, who may have been facing a situation where their power would be turned off completely because of a lack of money to pay the bill to keep it on. Because someone stepped in and paid their debt, they could plug in their lights with a sense of great joy and thankfulness.

   We all live on that great continuum, somewhere from the depths of despair to the heights of intense joy. We all live.

   There are lights to be turned on. The multicolored lights of our trees shining into the darkness can be a symbol of hope for those hurting and those in joy. Those of us who can, have one responsibility:

   Turn on our lights, the lights of our trees and the lights of our lives.

   Jesus said, "I am the Light of the World", and He also stated:

   "Let your light so shine before men that they....."

   If you still need a shock to your system in order to see all of this, just find a metal grate and a cord with a short, stand on the one and plug the other in. You may light up...