Light the world

In the digital/social media age, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints has started a tradition of a yearly Christmas theme designed to help us focus more on Jesus Christ. The theme is accompanied by an beautiful, inspirational video. Two years ago it was He is the Gift/Share the Gift [Actually it was #sharethegift. Maybe I should start using hashtags since even the church is on board with that incomprehensible trend. But I think I'll just keep writing in plain English, using my space bar and normal punctuation. There is more power in good grammar than hashtags would have you believe. The church is still true--thank goodness the gospel is unrelated to my distaste for hashtags] Last year the Christmas theme was A Savior is Born. I embedded the videos here for myself as much as anyone else who may want to watch (or re-watch) these masterpieces.


2014: Share the Gift


2015: A Savior is Born




This year's theme is Light the World, and along with the inspirational video, there is a 25 day advent calendar with suggestions of how to serve others like Jesus Christ did. Each day on the calendar says "Jesus Christ ______ and so can you." The idea is to follow Jesus' example by serving and caring for others for every day of December leading up to Christmas. I found a kid-version of the 25 days of service to put in our Christmas countdown, and so far it has been GOOD. It's amazing what intentional, specific service does. Jay and Rose might have thought on their own to bring extra Hershey's Kisses in their lunches to share with the kids at their tables, but this light the world initiative got them to ACT. The program not only inspired them to act on their naturally kind natures, but also showed them that even something as simple as sharing with other kids is a way to be like Jesus and bring a little more light into the world. I have been so caught up in facilitating my kids' participation in Light the World that I have forgotten to do the grownup service calendar myself for the past few days. Classic motherhood right there.

I love the symbolism of LIGHT. "Arise; shine, for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee." --Isaiah 60:1. I love the way I feel when I hear this scripture, especially when it is sung in Handel's Messiah. This verse always makes me ponder what I can do to arise and shine because my light is come. Jesus Christ is our light! How fitting that we decorate largely with lights for Christmas, during this dark cold time of year. Every little piece of good we do adds another pinprick of light to the darkness Out There. In choosing to do good works, we are following Jesus' example and lighting the world.

In the spirit of Christmas and lights, I have 35 pictures that I have taken over the past three weeks involving LIGHTS:

I. Kids tangled in a string of lights--I started taking this kind of picture last year and I love them, although the kids were rather wiggly this time...

II. Sunnyside lighted implements parade, December 3rd--a yearly favorite:

III. Grandview outdoor lights--we hung lights outside our house for the first time this year, and it was harder than I thought it would be! But I'm glad we hung them because our end of the street is the best-decorated in the whole town. We drove around for family home evening last night and confirmed our street's superiority.

 The skinny top of our Christmas tree with lights on it looks like a giant cross. I don't persnoally like using a cross to remind me of Jesus--I prefer to use lights and good works--but I guess to some people the reflection through our window could be inspiring.

Our decked-out street, snow and all. 

 How cute is downtown Grandview? (in spite of that scary ice buildup) The lights in these trees go on every night between November and April.

IV. Our Christmas tree lights--my sister Em, who has her own photography business, emailed me this how-to-take-good-Christmas-tree-pictures link, so I read up and did my best. Our tree is a tad thin and humble for such grandiose glittery pictures, but it held its own well enough.

Light the World. Merry Christmas.