This morning, as I looked out the school room window at the thick fog, I began considering why so many people become hopeless at the holidays. In Isaiah 60 it says, "See, darkness covers the earth and thick darkness is over the peoples. " That is what I have been seeing..."thick darkness" over people. But why?
We get so sidetracked and distracted. Even this morning I was feeling extremely tired and overwhelmed by all the things to do. The thick darkness, like a cloud, rolled in and I had begun to look at myself and my stuff more than on the One who bigger than me.
Charles Swindoll puts it like this, "But take away our hope, and we are plunged into deepest darkness...stopped dead in our tracks, paralyzed. Wondering. "Why?" Asking, "How much longer? Will this darkness ever end? Does He know where I am?"
I had begun to be distracted by my responsibilities, thinking of them as chores instead of gifts. It's a privilege to teach...a gift I have been given. I GET to be with my children all day and that is a gift. God has blessed our lives with lots of people around us to love and to be loved by...gift again.
It is interesting that the enemy tries to turn our eyes inward and on ourselves during a time when the world is primed for considering the arrival of the Savior. But if we are distracted with our lists and disappointed with our lot in life then who will tell them that the "glory of the Lord" appeared to the shepherds in a field and God put on flesh and came to this earth on our behalf. Of course He sees us and knows right where we are...he cared so much He came to live among us so that we could know Him. He cares so much He lived and died so that we could be free and so that we would never have to live without Him.
Isaiah goes on to say that "the Lord rises upon you and His glory appears over you." It is the truth! His light is in us and we have the opportunity to share it with those around us. "Lift up your eyes and look around you...Then you will look and be radiant, your heart will throb and swell with joy." That is what I believe happens to us when we turn our focus to the Lord, when we pry our eyes from ourselves and place them on bigger things. JOY COMES. It is when we look up that that thick darkness rolls away and His light shines through. He transforms us into a representation of Himself. We radiate His light and people begin to see something different in us. They want to know the reason for our joy and hope. So as we go out this Christmas, finishing the things we have before us to do, let us ask the Lord to help us look up and to be ready and willing to share the reason for the our joy.
Just look at you! You are so radiant!!
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