Try me! I light up! 10/15/08

TRY ME! I LIGHT UP!
I know you have seen those kinds of toys that say; "push here", "try me" etc. Who can resist pushing here and trying there! We want to see and hear just what these toys can do. At a Christmas program at our local Christian School the drummer was using sticks that lite up with a brilliant blue color. Jim and I bought a pair of those sticks for Jordan, our #3 grandson who was becoming a teenager in February. He had been playing drums for the Worship Team at church and taking lessons. We thought it would be fun for him to be flashing color along with his rhythmic beats. On the package was "Try me! I light up!". I got to wondering about that! "Try me! I light up!"
At Christmas time it is now a custom to put up as many lights inside and outside our homes as we can. What are we trying to say with all those lights? Years ago we used multi colored lights on our Christmas trees, and today the white lights are the thing. I like the lights because they make me feel festive and happy. I like the lights because they create an ambient atmosphere of color. Bright and cheerful, yet soft and beautiful. What if we could put a button on our nose that says; "Try me! I light up!"
Jim’s Moms favorite color was red. She didn’t wear much red nor did she decorate with it but she had a set of old drinking glasses that her husband had bought for her many, many years before, that had colorful red flowers on them. Why not? That was her favorite color and just as those glasses lit up her cupboard, I bet her face lit up with joy every time she looked at them.
In the last two decades using candles for mood setting has become popular again. Two hundred years ago candles were used to light up a room, now they are for atmosphere. Recently we had a power outage. It was an evening that we had my son and his wife’s family here for dinner. We had just finished baking one pizza with two more to go when the power went off. It was pretty dark not to mention we only had one pizza and salad on the table. We went looking for all the candles we could find and put a match to the wicks, and Walla, we had light. Well, a little light. Our evening wasn’t ruined as we were all family and had such fun in candle light talking about old times for some and getting acquainted for others. We are so use to flipping a switch. Can it be, that it says; "Try me! I light up?"
It is impossible for us to have a button that can be pushed to cause us to light up. However, our new life with Christ comes with a package that ultimately gives us light and eternal life with Him. The old light has flickered out and we have come brilliantly alive with a new light that God has put in us under a persona of love and peace. It is called the Holy Spirit!
Some years ago Debbie Boone sang a song called "You Light up my Life" which sold many records. Some thought it was about Jesus. In God’s word we are told that Christ is the light of the world. We are told because we are His, we too have become lights in this world. Matthew 5:14-16 says; "You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house". "Let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven." When the power came back on we were able to finish baking the pizza. That was a good thing! But the memory of sitting around in the power of candle light, laughing and having a good time with one another was also a good thing. We do not have a sign on us that says; "Try me! I light up!" But as Christians we have a life that shouts; "Try Jesus! He can light up your life"! I know! I tried Jesus many years ago and through thick and thin, He still lights up my life. By Jane Ann Crenshaw 2/20/08