It’s mid-November, and my first Christmas event is already behind me.  This was not intentional, but rather dictated by the availability of large venues that can accommodate, in our case, 200 women.  On Saturday morning, we gathered at the country club in our city for a late breakfast, Christmas carols to sing along to, and a speaker pointing us toward a Jesus-centered Christmas.  The celebration of the Feast has begun, and I don’t mind at all if it lasts a long time.  Here in the northern hemisphere, each day is a little shorter, and by five in the afternoon it already feels like deep evening.

Dark days call for light, and there’s a delightful spectacle of homes and buildings lit up each evening.  The variety is as vast as the styles and tastes of humanity—the creativity within us to illuminate the night.  Over the past weekend, we received our first significant snowfall, and last night the world was quiet and bright—not with Christmas lights but with God’s “night light,” which makes all other lights pale in comparison.

“God made the two great lights—the greater light to govern the day and the lesser light to govern the night. He also made the stars.” (Genesis 1:16)

“You made the moon to mark the seasons; the sun knows when to set.” (Psalm 104:19)

“This is what the Lord says, He who appoints the sun to shine by day, who decrees the moon and stars to shine by night…” (Jeremiah 31:35)

The moon is full and radiant, and human lights fade, just as the message of Christmas often disappears in the clamour and clatter of secular celebration.  The most well-known verse about Christmas speaks of darkness and light—the prophecy in Isaiah’s scroll – the promise, the hope:

“The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of deep darkness, a light has dawned.” (Isaiah 9:2)

The darkness Isaiah refers to is not the long nights of the northern hemisphere on Earth.  It is the darkness of souls trapped in sin and lies, in  hopelessness of addiction and confusion, hysterical anger and fear.  It is humanity, our fellow inhabitants of Earth, living in the spiritual night born from the Fall.

For those people—from the beginning of time until now—the promise has been fulfilled.  The Light has come.  

We know of so many people who have claimed to be God.  In Jewish history, there is a long list of names of people who declared themselves to be the Messiah.  Do you know their names?  Do you know anything about even one of them?  Of course not! I was surprised to see so many.  But do you know the name Jesus?

There is only one person in the entire history of false gods and false Christs who ever said, I am the Light of the World.  I, Jesus, have enough light for all the darkness that evil can conceive and unleash upon the Earth.

What is the worst that could happen over which we have no control?  The death of every human, animal, and plant—all that lives—is the most certain fact of our existence.  Yet death’s sting has been removed by the greatness of the Resurrection of the Baby who lived and suffered among us.

I would agree with anyone who says there are things worse than death.  The hell of suffering on Earth and the schemes of evil born from the depths of hell are enough to drive anyone under the covering and protection of God’s love—yet we see this doesn’t always happen.  We witness the destruction of human lives around us and are astonished by the hardness of their hearts in the face of the Child who came.

Each year, we can read again and again about the people walking in darkness, look up, and see those “people” of whom the prophet spoke, right here around us.  The darkness is heavy, and the tragic consequences of sin bring devastation and sorrow.  Each year, we are called to testify to the birth of the Promised Child.

So often when I read the Psalms, I get the impression that the poets, writers, and composers in the distant past “saw” Jesus as they wrote.  In the God they describe and praise, they saw the “gentle heart” of a God who forgives, releases His anger, raises His people, pours out His gifts, brings His wisdom—all of which is called love.  The loving heart of God took on a body and lived among us.

The Body of God as a human is proof of the most perfect love in the entire universe.  It is love that saves and heals, forgives and restores, accepts and transforms.  It is love that reaches out and unites people who don’t belong together. [See more on Judas in Pebbles 124 and 181.]

It is in this love that our Baka Valley (Valley of Weeping) becomes a rich fountain of abundance.

“Blessed are those whose strength is in You, whose hearts are set on pilgrimage. 

As they pass through the Valley of Baka, they make it a place of springs; the autumn rains also cover it with pools. 

They go from strength to strength, till each appears before God in Zion.” (Psalm 84:5-7)

If your pilgrimage—the journey of a believer with their time of kneeling, reading, listening, and praising—leads through the Valley of Baka with a lament in the depths of your soul’s cry to God, the promise is for you:

“For with You is the fountain of life; in Your light, we see light.” (Psalm 36:9)

Tears of sorrow are fertile ground for the peace, love, hope, and joy of the Christmas message.  They are the moisture for your landscape of abundance, your life’s path that moves from strength to strength.

“You keep track of my wanderings; put my tears in Your bottle. Are they not in Your book?”(Psalm 56:8, NKJV)

“You’ve kept track of my every toss and turn through sleepless nights, each tear entered in Your ledger, each ache written in Your book.” (The Message)

Walk your pilgrimage to the Jesus-centered Christmas with the Light that dwells within you.  Your landscape of fountains will touch those around you and bring the Christmas message to life.

Here’s food for thought during quiet moments along the way:

“You are all children of the light and children of the day. We do not belong to the night or to the darkness.” (1 Thessalonians 5:5)

“For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light.”(Ephesians 5:8)

“The night is nearly over; the day is almost here. So let us put aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light.” (Romans 13:12)

“The light of the righteous shines brightly, but the lamp of the wicked is snuffed out.” (Proverbs 13:9)