When I was young, like most children, I saw the world in black and white. In my two-toned world, good people didn't do bad things. Bad people didn't do good things. Everything was good, or everything was bad. No in-between.
Now that I am older, I still live in a black and white world...but it's the black and white of a zebra, not the black and white of day and night. I realize now that good and bad are two necessary realities of one existence, one day, one moment. The black and white exist together, parts of a whole, painting the stripes of a zebra.
In Christmastide, we are infused with the joy surrounding Christ's birth. He came as light to a dark world. A BLACK world, cold and made desolate by sin.
What if my world came crashing down around me tomorrow?
What if it were not the clamoring of illness or physical death, but the crushing weight of sin- of evil deeds too dark to mention that would cause my walls to crumble?
Would I sit in the rubble and curse God?
Would I still be able to say with all assurance that "Yes, God is good?"
I pondered these very questions on Christmas. I was haunted by the question: "Who would I be if the walls came down?" Are they the walls of protection, or are these walls that shield me a barrier to HIS light, HIS grace, HIS mercy?
Am I afraid to be a naked soul, only comfortable in the warmth of goodness and light? WHO AM I WHEN THE LIGHTS GET TURNED OFF? Who am I in the face of sin and ugliness? Who would I be, stripped of the assurance of my own goodness or the goodness of others? Does God need our goodness to be good himself?
And when the worst, most heinous crimes rear their ugly heads in our lives, do I try and build the walls higher as they crumble, or do I stand stripped before a merciful father and beg for forgiveness, not even of my own sins, but of the utter depravity of the human condition?
There is only one recourse in the face of spiritual death and sin: CLING.
Cling to the cross with all your might. Read his word, sing or play hymns , and PRAY.
He will not abandon you.
Christ has come :"TO SHINE UPON THOSE WHO SIT IN DARKNESS AND THE SHADOW OF DEATH, To guide our feet into the way of peace." ~Luke !:79
Wishing you a season of peaceful reflection this Christmas, as we bask in HIS light.
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On a much lighter note, here is our new puppy, Duncan. We just got him today!
