13th December
Decorating, Interrupted
When I think of decoration, sparkle comes to mind. Lights. Glitter. Silver and gold.
Sparkle. Who doesn’t want to? Who doesn’t love it. A sparkle in your eye. A sparkle of joy. A sparkle of sunshine.
I lost mine. For a long while it went away. Disappeared. I wondered. I worried. Would it ever return? Would I find it again?
Anxiety had crushed, squashed, silenced, buried it.
One Christmas I struggled under the weight of it. Not able to function. Feeling I needed to be alone. Fortunately my family wouldn’t allow it. They picked me up, helped me, encouraged me, spoke to me firmly. Telling me I needed to be with them. Even if I was quiet.
I could see the light in them. The sparkle. The joy. The hope.
Anxiety makes you believe you can’t cope. But it’s a liar. I could. I could get through. If I surrounded myself with light. With light givers.
“The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.”* Anxiety did not win because it can’t. I decided not to give it permission to steal from me any longer and decorated my thoughts, my life, with light.
It started off as a small sparkle. And the more I focused on it the brighter it became.
That is the truth. It’s the truth that sets us free. The light of the world. Jesus.
*John 1:5
