Christmas in ... August!

Daily Reading: Isaiah 60

Scripture Focus: Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you. For behold, darkness shall cover the earth, and thick darkness the peoples; but the Lord will arise upon you, and his glory will be seen upon you. (Isaiah 60.1-2)

Devotional Thought: 133 days until Christmas!  I better get ready to hang my Christmas lights!

When we lived in Bethel, Ohio, I would hang the Christmas lights on the Friday after Thanksgiving.  (What’s Thanksgiving, after all, without the aggravation of untangling long strands of icicle lights?)  After hours of struggling with broken bulbs and burned out fuses - followed by the obligatory trip to Dollar General for replacement strands! - I would finally get all 6 strands hung across the front of the house.  Then I would place Joseph and Mary and Baby Jesus on a bale of straw on the front porch.  Then it was time for The Enchanted Forest - pvc poles with lights strung on them in the shape of Christmas trees.

I love Christmas light!

I wonder if that’s how God felt when he sent the light of the world into our “thick darkness.”  God flipped the switch and the heavens blazed with the glory of God.  Heaven was so excited that an angel choir came and burst forth in song: “Glory to God in the highest!”

I have an idea.  Let's have Christmas in ... August!  Even better, let's have Christmas all year long.  Things may seem dark with a pandemic and social uncertainty, but this is just the time we need to shine the light of God's love.  Let's fill the next 133 days with the Light of the World!

Prayer: Lord, shine your light in my heart so that I can shine it out to everyone around me.  I don't want to wait until Christmas.  Help me to shine with the love of God right now, in August!  Amen.

Psalm of the Day: Psalm 92.10-15

10 But you have exalted my horn like that of the wild ox; you have poured over me fresh oil.

11 My eyes have seen the downfall of my enemies; my ears have heard the doom of my evil assailants.

12 The righteous flourish like the palm tree and grow like a cedar in Lebanon.

13 They are planted in the house of the LORD; they flourish in the courts of our God.

14 They still bear fruit in old age; they are ever full of sap and green,

15 to declare that the LORD is upright; he is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in him.