I sit
here on New Year's Day afternoon, ready to edit what I wrote in the
early morning. The day started gray, but the sun soon broke through. The
wonderfully blue sky of low humidity shows off the bright light.
Remnants of snow remain on the ground. I plan to go to a
contemplative place today. Happy New Year.
Another
year. Another picture and word came easily. Like Hallmark, I started
watching the Christmas movies early. Of the selection, I viewed Thomas Kinkade's
Christmas Cottage second, back in
November. Thomas is in college and floundering a bit
with his gift of painting. His mother is losing the cottage, but has
hidden it from her boys so they will enjoy their Christmas break. A
famous painter, played by Peter O'Toole, lives next door. The death
of the love of his life stymied his painting, along with health
issues. At the very end, he makes this valiant effort of one more
painting so the mother can save the cottage. He trudges to their home
after the small town spent all Christmas Day sprucing her property
up. He discovers he must paint the light and so he leaves that legacy
to Thomas Kinkade, “Paint the light.”
I
thought, that's it, I must write the light. I had not only my word,
but the picture, too. As Christmas grew closer and then intersecting
with Hanukkah, the references to Light are too numerous to mention.
I feel
like a teenager tackling a term paper with material everywhere and
trying to narrow it down.
I
remember my first harshly graded paper, I got a C, with “Be
concise” written in red. I was upset, but also glad I was
challenged. I think before in junior high, high grades came with
obedience. Oh, there may have been a spark of worth but certainly not
deserving excellent grades. I was a good girl. This social studies
teacher pointed out my skating habit and wouldn't let me stay in that lane.
I am grateful to him. I wasn't changed by that one paper, though. The C and comment started the journey to maturity.
Light
fills this time of year. From the outdoor decorations to candles,
trees and the knowledge of the source of all Light. Jesus said, “You
are the light of the world.” In light, there can be no darkness. A
flame does not cast a shadow. I love Ted Dekker's promotion for a
study he wrote. The little girl starts singing loudly about “This
little light of mine, I'm gonna let it shine.” She grows older and
the voice falters, till as a young woman, her light goes out. Ted
comes out and asks, “Who said your light was little?”
Christians
have Jesus living in them. The Light flows through us, or it should.
Our faces need to glow with the Light shining from within.
We live
in a dark world as we try to illuminate it. Some do not want light. I
feared for a while that writing the Light made me seem naive as I
struggled again with style and platform. I am confident, I am to
write. I am to publish. I will write the Light.
The
letters of John have been the main focus of my time in the Bible in
December. I think we all need to visit these epistles more than we
do. The writing shouts what our lives as Christians should be. We
should have no fear. Greater is He who is in you, than he who is in
the world. Perfect love casts out all fear. The words renew my
calling as a writer and as a person of the Cross. Emboldened, I will
not write in shadows, cowering that I may offend someone. I am who I
am, a child of the Light. I will write the Light.
2020 has
been touted as a year of vision. I pray the Light I write will
strengthen the vision. The times are bleak, but they have often been.
Believers need to rise up and love. As the old song, Love is the
Answer by Todd Rundgren, pleads, "Light of the world shine on me."
