Lighting The World

Several years ago I remember waking up early to pick a friend up from the airport. Around 4am I pulled on to the highway to drive the 45 min up to Salt Lake with only a handful of other drivers to keep me company. I occasionally used my brights navigating around the more icy parts of the road. When coming around point of the mountain I looked over at these neighborhoods that I could see clearly from my spot in the slow lane. They were so well lit I could see each house, its color and general shape and all the vehicles in the streets and driveways. I'm not a particular energy saver except when it comes with saving money so it was a little bit of a surprise to find myself thinking why don't we just turn those street lights off? What a waste. No one is awake except me. What would we want our neighborhoods lit all night?

Why would we want those lights on all night? I think they make us feel safe. If for just a moment we cut the power to that street it would be the same. No boogey men would jump out of the bushes or like that last song used in Disney's original Fantasia...you know where demons and freaky ghosts all come out at night (seriously nightmares as a kid, why would they put that in the same Disney film where we find Mickey and dancing hippos?). That just doesn't happen because its dark. But I guess the light makes us sure those things aren't happening. Light in this case smothers the fear of the unknown and unseen. Light helps us to see more clearly. With it comes the feelings of warmth and comfort. These feelings and brightness we could use a little more today.

Today marks the beginning of the Christmas Season, a season of lights celebrating the Light of the World. Instead of wanting this light off to save energy, I hope to add to it this Christmas and be a little more like the Son. Merry Christmas! Here's to things being a little more brights