CHRISTMASTIME IS HERE

The heavy rain of the last few days has ceased and now only a drizzle of rain falls from the sky. The clouds lay low. Colors are muted – mostly shades of brown. There is no sound – no birds twittering, no squirrels scuttering. It is a dreary, dismal day. Before leaving the house this morning, Jordan was watching “A Charlie Brown Christmas”. Vince Guaraldi’s “Christmastime is Here”, in it’s sorrowful minor key, plays in my mind. It seems to be the appropriate background music for the day. Like Charlie Brown, I have had the Christmas blues.

As I look across the meadow, the grasses are brown and bent over from the dampness. But, as I draw closer I notice that there, at the base of the dead stems is green – fresh, new, living green. The more I look, the more I see. There is new life. There is hope.

I enter the dark redwood grove. There are no shafts of sun cutting through the trees. Yet beneath the redwoods the Boston ferns have turned from green to buttermint yellow. Several trees have retained their yellow leaves. In this dark forest they have brought some light.

Then I hear in my mind the words that Linus shares, “’Fear not, for I bring you good tidings of great joy. For unto you is born this day a Savior, Christ the Lord. Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.’ And that is what Christmas is all about, Charlie Brown.”

The world had been dreary and dismal – without hope and light. The angels cut into that darkness with great light and announced the birth of Jesus. The shepherds went to see this wonder, to take a close look. Although just a baby, He brought hope and light. And that is what Christmas is all about.