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It Will All Make Sense
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Thursday, December 26, 2019 |
Christmas Eve with a six-year-old is a Christmas Eve is worth doing! So there we were—Lucy and me—at our church. She snuggled up on my lap as we watched Pastor Jim Lennon sketch a large chalk-art presentation all timed to a music track. At first, Pastor Jim’s broad strokes and dark colors impressed her. But as the drawing continued, Lucy seemed a bit puzzled. “What’s he doing?” she asked. I explained that he was mixing colors for detail and depth. “And what are those?” she inquired, pointing to some black rectangles in the upper left corner. I told her, “They might be houses from the town of Bethlehem” (seemed like a reasonable guess on Christmas eve!). As the music soared and then quieted, Lucy asked one more time, “What’s that he’s doing now?” Full disclosure: I've enjoyed watching a number of these drawings unfold—enough to know that Pastor Jim pre-draws part of the scene using colors that are invisible—until a black light shines on them. So I had a sense of what might be ahead. I said to Lucy, “In a few minutes, he’ll shine a special light—and then you’ll see everything. It’ll all make sense.” With one final assessment of his masterpiece, Pastor Jim stepped back and lit up the black lights. As he did so, every detail finally came into view: a lovely rendering of the nativity cave scene. Stupefied shepherds bent over the manger as Joseph and Mary stared. Imagine the questions they must have had.
And then my own words boomeranged back: “In a few minutes, he’ll shine a special light—and then you’ll see everything. It will all make sense.” Part of me wonders if that’s advice a lot of us could use today. Maybe at this time of holiday cheer, you’re a little low in the “cheer” department: You grieve the loss of a loved one. You groan at the news from your doctor. What you are going through at the moment makes no sense at all. Not in the least. Could I invite you to reconsider the conversation Lucy and I shared? “In a few minutes, He’ll shine a special light—and then you’ll see everything. It will all make sense.” Okay—so maybe that’s a bit oversimplified. Not only do we sometimes have to wait for more than a few minutes to get our answers, sometimes it's years. Or we don't get the answers we were looking for in this lifetime. Still, I have every confidence that someday, God really will shine His light on you—and you’ll see everything. It will all make sense. So take heart. Even if yours is a bit heavy.
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Jon Gauger | |||||
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