With temps in the 50's, I decided to set up our outdoor Christmas lights yesterday.
I know! Still a week before Thanksgiving!
It was a nice excuse to be outside and really -- the weather can turn on a dime up here.
Better now than with frozen hands and arctic winds later!
One of our lighting traditions is to spell out the reason with one of those long, continuous tube lights.
Its flexible, about half an inch thick, and you can curve it into cursive script letters. Looks like red neon tube.
This isn't easy, mind you. The whole process probably looks comical to my neighbors across the street.
First I take one end of tube and anchor it to our front-yard trellis with a small tie wrap.
Then I painstakingly shape each letter, leaving a "space" of tube in between.
It's a challenge to spell the whole word, maintain the letter proportions across the trellis and not run out of red tube!
Since I had my face pressed up against the trellis to tinker with the tie wraps, I wondered how the overall effect appeared from the street.
One of the neighbors was out for a walk, so I called over to her, "how are the letters, can you make it out?""
"Oh sure!" she smiled, "It looks good!"
"But can you tell what it spells?" I asked again, still tugging suspiciously on the "e" and a curiously misshaped "s."
"It says, "Jesus,'" she smiled again and walked on.
Jesus.
I have to tell you. The name of "Jesus" sounded so good to me in the quiet autumn air.
Full, and sufficient. Like I'd heard the perfect prayer and there was nothing to add to it.
Like it was my favorite song and there was no need to play it again.
Jesus. How sweet the name...
"How sweet the Name of Jesus sounds
In a believer's ear!
It soothes her sorrows, heals her wounds,
And drives away her fear.
It makes the wounded spirit whole,
And calms the troubled breast;
'Tis manna to the hungry soul,
And to the weary, rest."
By John Newton, 1725 - 1807
What do you believe?
