After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star they had seen when it rose went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was. When they saw the star, they were overjoyed.
Matthew 2: 9-10
When I was a little girl, I used to shimmy myself underneath the tree and look up. The lights that twinkled and bounced off the ornaments in a magical way. I could lay there for a while my eyes darting across the tree in awe of the wonderful light that was just above me.
It’s a funny thing about light. The afterglow of it leaves you wanting more and more- whether it’s the lights of the tree, the stars in the night sky, or the candle lit during the singing of Silent Night. It speaks to hope and promise.
It’s what I imagine the Magi felt when they saw the light of the star, where they followed it. Hope lived below that star- it embodied the light of star in the baby named Jesus.
I put up my tree early this year, which I normally don’t do, but 2020 though- right? Even though it’s been up for nearly two months, I ache for it to be up longer in the days after Christmas. To sit in the glow of it, the wonder, the hope this season brings- I just can’t get enough of it.
My youngest niece saw me lying under the tree on Christmas Day and she laid down beside me to look up. In that brief moment, I caught a ray of that light – shining into what seemed like the darkest of nights (a whole year really) and the hope that has lived there all along. The hope that changes hearts, that heals wounds, binds up the brokenhearted, the lost, sad, and lonely. The hope that offers forgiveness, grace, and mercy to the world. The hope that allows us a new dawn to start again.
It is the light that drives out our darkness.
It is the light that drives out ALL darkness.
We are all drawn to the light- our hearts ache for it.
In all this aching, we hold fast to the promise of Light. The Light that holds eternity and holds us. That’s what I want to be walking toward.
Coffee and Crowns: A Collaborative 