Happy 2008 everyone!

First off, I don't usually acknowledge most Anonymous comments to my blog.  Usually, they are unkind and so they get deleted.  Once in a while they are just by a friend who forgot to sign in.  :) 

Sometimes they are from people I know who don't have a blog account, but they don't realize that all you have to do to identify yourself is type in your name where it says "Anonymous." 

At any rate, I got a comment about the video I posted of the "amazing grace" Christmas lights. I was hoping to get some feedback about it.  I have never heard anyone singing Amazing Grace at Christmas.  Flashing computer generated lights with a very raucus version of one of the most amazing hymns of all time really threw me.....a disco version of Amazing Grace!  Or was it techno-pop?  Who knows. 

Posted by Anonymous (66.183.35.184)

 Hi, first of all thank you for this opportunity to add some feedback about your webpages.
The first thing I saw was the video of the Christmas light display so I played it and looked at the comments on it.

I didn't want to register or sign up to comment on it but I would like to say to you that it may have caused me to close your pages and not bother reading as I find that type of display much more of excess and a flamboyance that I do not see as part of a Christ filled Christmas. Yes he plays his display to amazing grace but so many people are so accustomed to that tune they don't hear or maybe don't even know the words and truth those words represent.

Jesus did not draw man unto him by showing off his power. I've heard He had only one cloak, a borrowed donkey and very little material to impress people with. He helped people by touching them, loving them and feeding them.

So in this day of immense need for North Americans to conserve energy, feed the hungry and love the unloveable I find the display of lights irrelevant to the gospel message and offensive to the poor and the needs of a world in the midst of global warming.

I do admire the talent and work that went into the display but I would love to see that talent and work applied to feeding the hungry, clothing the naked and housing the homeless. A candle can light a dark space in a profound way and the light of Jesus love in our hearts will light up our smile and draw others to Him.
It doesn't have to costs thousands of dollars and hundreds of hours to spread the Christmas message.

Thank you for letting me say what is on my heart and mind this morning. "

I so appreciate thought-filled comments.  It is nice to know that people are thinking, and not just mindlessly accepting everything they read and see on the internet as good, right and true. 

I agree that there is a whole lotta' excess going on at "Christmas Time."  I think that tradition gets in the way of common sense.  And commercialism gets in the way of sensibility.  But at the same time, people are drawn to light.....whether it is the twinkling lights of the stars or the twinkling lights of Christmas decorations.  We took a drive one night to see how the local homes have been decorated, and we saw some beautiful displays.  Man sure can create some beautiful things to look at, can't he?  And then there was the excessive "junk" displays.  We saw two huge homes with more of those blow up character "thingies" in their yard than you could shake a stick at.  It was war with the Jones's of the worst degree!  Nary a empty square foot of ground in those yards......

But wait, man likes to exalt himself......and exalt he does.  But who gave him the power to create?  The Lord does.  So is it wrong to do that? 

God Himself created the most amazing display of lights......the heavens, the sun, the moon, the stars......comets, falling stars, rainbows, the aurora borealis......parhelion......nebulae.....wow.  And God's own son is called "light."  He is the one who makes us see.....for without the light, we are blind.

Are the people who put up big light displays ignoring God's command to take care of widows and orphans?  Are they brushing off the great commission?  How should I know?  They might be working down at the local soup kitchen, or donating to missions, or any number of things that God has called them to do.  I have been guilty of judging, but I don't want to do it anymore.  God told me not to.  I don't want to be a stumbling block to my brother anymore.  Therefore, I will leave the judging to the one who created the laws and knows the hearts of men.  I can't know them.

They might be the ones who need to hear the Gospel.  They might need to be ministered to, because they could be poor in spirit, even though they can afford huge light displays. 

But I don't  know that.  I didn't take the time to knock on their door and ask them if they knew Christ.  Maybe the reason people create huge displays of wild lights is because they know there is something more to our lives than the usual.  They seek something unusual. They know they have a void, and are seeking to fill it somehow.

 Jesus was unusual.  He didn't try to show us his great power....but he had power over natural circumstances. He did a lot of miracles that are recorded in the Bible.  He still does miracles today.  He has power to heal, to know, to endure, to save, to speak the truth in love.  Power to love the unlovable.....power to look past the masks and know the truth. 

Maybe those lights are just a mask.  Behind those wild lights are people who are seeking validation, seeking love, seeking a thrill, because they don't know that there is more to life than what they know.

I really appreciated Anonymous taking the time to write to me, but he or she lost me at the mention of global warming.  I don' t think the poor are offended by things like flamboyant displays, I think they might just enjoy them unless they are very bitter people.  And as far as the "needs of the world in the midst of global warming....."  well the Gospel message is still intact, whether we are in the midst of a "global warming" cycle or not, and Jesus might not have shown off his divine powers too flamboyantly, but I think that the heavens declare the glory of God and the firmament shows His handiwork.   I think that our "natural" disasters are really super-natural reminders that God is in control and there really isn't a whole lot we can "do" to combat/change/make a difference when it comes to the weather changes that occur on this planet. 

Maybe we should be more concerned about the global hardening of hearts toward the things of the Lord.

Blessings!

Homeschooling IS Life,

Nancy