Blue Lights and Open Arms

What is it about the Christmas season that offers us the invitation to walk through the back door of life and remember the past? Is it the longing that we have as we get older to not completely lose the part of childhood that still lives in us?

Why do people watch,"It's a Wonderful Life" over and over again? Why does Boris Karloff's voice echoing over the years telling us that the "the Grinch hated the whole Christmas season" make us smile...over and over again?

My hair disappearing, my jogging time getting slower and slower, and my inability to really touch my toes makes getting lost on "memory lane" at Christmas even more appealing. So I remember traveling by train up to the strange land of North Carolina when I was six. We moved three times that year as my father changed jobs only to "land" one up in the far country...at least it seemed like the far country to a child in Biloxi Mississippi.

Dad came up early to "set up house." Mom and I arrived late one foggy night. As I looked out the window all I could see was a solitary figure standing under a dim lamp near the door of the train station. I let go of my mother's hand and ran toward the figure. My mom screamed for me to stop. Who knew if this silhouette was indeed my father? All I knew was that I needed him to be.

As I ran I hesitated for a moment. Maybe this dark figure was not the one who had gone ahead to prepare a way for us. Maybe I was running toward Jack the Ripper. Then the figure slowly lifted both of his hands in a sculpture like pose. I broke from my frozen stance and ran into the enveloping arms of my father.

He drove us to some little brick house with the fog still holding us. We were refugees and the fog seemed to protect us from all that would seem strange. As I walked toward the new "home" I opened the door to see a decorated Christmas tree filled with large blue lights. I shall never forget the sight of that tree. I had never seen a tree with only blue lights. It was so beautiful. In today's standards it would seem rather dull and unimpressive, but to a child who had no idea what the future held in this strange land, it was a sign that someone had prepared Christmas. Christmas would happen in the new place.

I wish for you some special memories this season. You may have to reach back and push away some of the sad recollections that get in the way. So do. Find a place of blue lights for you. For you see, Christmas is about another "father" who prepared the way on a still night. It all happened because of a world that was in need of some good news. It seems this world of ours, shrouded in the deep mist of a wonder, was asking questions that sounded like, "Is someone really waiting for us out there?"

Yes, someone was waiting. Yes, someone is waiting. If it takes reaching back to childhood days when we all needed the reassurance that someone would make a place ready for us, then do it. And if you know of someone out there who is still making memories that need someone like you to help make those memories precious, then give the present of making sure they have something to hold to....like you and your caring.

We have a God who understands blue lights and open arms....
Bless you
jody
jseymour@davidsonumc.org