12 Days: Light

Americans spend a lot of money on lights. One of the things I used to tell my kids about lights on houses at Christmastime was that Christians like to let the world know that if Mary and Joseph were to come looking for a place to stay, they would have no problem in that all they would need to do is knock at the door of a house with lights.

The story of the four candles also punctuate the season for me. Peace, Faith, Love and Hope....when one goes out, HOPE remains the flame that can ignite the others again. As long as there is hope there is LIFE - and as long as there is LIFE there is hope.

This light of hope was especially true for me this August where my friend Juan Carlos nearly lost his life in a cycling crash. He did survive and lives now with a spinal cord injury that left him paralyzed from the nipples down. On his sister's Facebook page was this photo:

Mientras haya vida, hay esperanzas - While there is life, there is hope...

The blessing of hope. May we all find our light this season - and keep it burning.
This light and burning remind me of a special song that I love - "Biko" by Peter Gabriel. The lyrics are; "You can blow out a candle, but you can't blow out a fire. Once the flames begin to catch, the wind will blow it higher...."

Okay - so what to do to make sure your HOPE is burning and turns to FIRE? That is the journey, my friends. I know my flame is sometimes barely a whisper of a light.....I look to others for help and I pray that the path is revealed to all of us in perfect light.