As a child it was our family tradition to see the Charles Dickens play, “A Christmas Carol”, EVERY year with our father on the night of Christmas Eve. It was such a special time, we would get dressed up and scramble to leave the house on time. We were excited to see the play of course, but mostly excited because it meant that Christmas morning was almost here.
As many know the story, there is Scrooge and Tiny Tim and all the adoring characters along the way. The story can be frightening, most of all for young children on Christmas Eve, but the goodness that comes through darkness of seeing the “ghosts” of Christmas past, present and future can be a reminder of our patient waiting for the celebration. There is a lot of darkness in our world, a lot of evil and scary things, and it can be hard to not lose hope, hard to not worry about the future. But we should not be fearful as Christ is our future, he is our light. Light cannot be diminished or imprisoned, Christ’s light is our future. “The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; a light has dawned on those living in the land of darkness” (Isaiah 9:2).
–Lindsay Howes
