Reflecting the Light, Words of my Heart by Texas Artist Laurie Pace

The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light;
upon those who dwelt in the land of gloom a light has shone.  Isaiah 9:2

The colors of Christmas now are colors of my own earthly Father. Streaming back in my heart are the memories of putting up the tree. Usually it was the two of us. He taught me how to put the lights inside the branches closer to the trunk. I squealed often as it was scratchy to stick my chubby arms in the pine needles...but I did it wanting to please him.  Then we had all the many years of collected ornaments out in their boxes on the couch. Smaller ones went higher up on the tree...where I could not reach, and the larger ones toward the bottom where I could reach.

Memory reminds me they were all very fragile and each had a bit of family history to them making me even more careful as I chose the next one to hang making sure it had a secure hanger and hook on it.

Once the ornaments were on the tree, hung just inside the outer fringes of the branches...it was time to hang the 'tinsel'. My adult children do not even remember the days of tinsel.  My Dad was the man to learn how to hang tinsel. It is done one tiny strand at a time.  The silver threads began reflecting the lights of the tree and brightening the room to a full warmth.

We are just like those ornaments and tinsel Dad.   Some of us are fragile and must be handled with care. Some of us are just a simple shiny strand of tinsel...nothing by itself, but once hung in the right place in life, we reflect the joy and brightness around us.  We need His light in our lives to shine and reflect out to the world. All of us come together in His light and make the season uniting together in Him.   Without Him, we are nothing. With His light... we are reflecting His light around the world.

Remember, lights go on first toward the inside of the tree...then the ornaments, ribbons and tinsel.

The last thing Dad always did was to set up the train under the tree with my older brother Bill. He still has that train today. It was Dad's train as a youngster. I am hoping that Bill has that thing chugging right along right now enjoying the sweet memory of Dad and celebrating the joy of this season.

Words of my heart, Laurie
A Texas Artist Laurie Pace