By Damon Fontinel
One thing that really sets the Christmas season apart are the lights. We decorate our homes and businesses with them, we drive miles to look at them. They are everywhere and for some reason, perhaps it’s just sheer beauty, they make us feel better, they make us feel like it’s Christmas.
But Christmas lights aren’t the only lights that make us feel better. There is another light that makes us feel better. It’s called the sun.
Neuroscientist Dr. Andrew Huberman states the following about the sun’s light:
“There are hundreds of peer-reviewed papers showing that viewing sunlight early in the day is the most powerful stimulus for staying awake during the day and has a powerful impact on your ability to fall asleep at night.”
This isn’t new news. We’ve known for a long time the benefits of light for our life. Without light what do we have? Darkness of course. Probably only those who have been blind can truly understand the power of light and I’m sure the moment someone receives sight after being blind is an indescribable experience. Yet, most of us take light for granted.
In the Christian faith, even the object of that faith, Jesus, is described as a light. And it follows that he would also help us “see”.
The apostle John wrote, "In him was life, and that life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it" (John 1:4-5 NIV). A few lines before, John describes Jesus as being with God in the beginning. And so, Jesus was there when God began life with the words, “Let there be light”. Light and life go together.
When John wrote those words, light and darkness were common symbols of good and evil. Jesus is the light, or good and “the world” is dark, or evil. Jesus was born into the world to shining light into the darkness, bringing the news of God’s salvation to every person so we can see. Probably only those who have been spiritually blind can truly understand the power of Jesus’s light and I’m sure the moment someone receives spiritual sight after being spiritually blind is an indescribable experience. Let’s remember not to take it for granted.
Father, as we look toward the sun, when we turn on a light, and when we seek out the Christmas lights this season, help us to remember that we once were blind, but because of your light, now we see.