During the Christmas season, we pull out our Christmas tree lights. We light candles and place them in the window. We participate in family traditions and bring the good news into our homes.
For several years, we set out brown bags along the sidewalk, poured sand in the bottom, and placed lit candles in the sand. Luminarias are a Southwestern tradition from Mexico and celebrated in New Mexico, California and Arizona as a way to light the pathway for the Christ child. The truth be told, it’s not what we do, but it’s the light within us that will light the pathway to Jesus for others.
John writes in his gospel, “In him (Jesus) was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.” — John 1:4,5 (NKJV).
These words from scripture caused me to ponder and gave me new insight into my own life’s purpose.
When I read, “The flame of the good news,” in a footnote in The Passion Translation, I wondered what that looked like — a light emanating flickering streams from burning material. That sounds too scientific. It doesn’t fit. The flame is Jesus and is the light in us.
In 1978 when my heart opened to the Lord, it was like He struck a match and set my soul on fire. I’ve carried in my heart a bonfire for 45 years. The strong light of eternity deep in my soul has caused me to be a disrupter.
Many times, spiritually speaking, I could have burned down the church building and laid the members in ashes. After meeting with God during a sermon, I wanted to talk about God and bask in the afterglow of His presence.
Others in the service wanted to talk about where they would go for lunch and with whom they would fellowship. Even my Sweet Al would head for the donut table. He enjoyed the sermon and it was enough for him until the next Sunday. That hour was never enough for me. I studied the Word for days. I couldn’t get enough of Jesus. I still can’t.
We are who we are. When my son said to me, “I’ve never been called sweet,” I said to him, “Neither have I. We weren’t wired like your dad. Your dad is sweet.”
He loves unconditionally. And our family needed to be loved. His assignment in life was to love his family. He loved me in a way I knew he believed in me. Somehow, he understood what I was called to do to fulfill my purpose on earth.
I said to my son, “We have been called into another kind of mission. Corporate companies hired you to troubleshoot. They sent you to other sites in the states or to other countries to solve the company’s problem.
“You have a unique gift of seeing the overall picture and to pinpoint the problem. This is not an enviable position, to tell people they are the problem. My calling has been to bring people to the Lord, challenge believers to love God’s word, understand the hope that is in them, love God’s Word and take seriously the unique gift they have been given.”
I’ve tried to be different, but God knew what the world needed from me and made me for this purpose. I met a very charismatic couple in 1978 when we moved to Pagosa. I was compelled to follow them. He called his wife his “handmaiden.” Learning how to be a submissive wife at the time, I tried to be like her and change my personality to be what I thought would be the perfect wife. It didn’t happen that way. It was God’s love in Al that subdued me and I learned how to submit.
One of the church leaders said I was too zealous in my early years as a Christian. I needed to curb my enthusiasm. I thought something was wrong with me. I said many times I have gone through life apologizing for who I am.
I didn’t want to be different. I wanted to belong, but never did. Being a woman, I threatened church leaders; I was edged out of teaching positions many times. Yes, I was a disrupter, obnoxious and too zealous. But God lit that match and I became a flame of the Good News. I thank God for that.
I became a fragile flame at that. I bucked strong headwinds and wondered why I was put in a position of leadership. But nothing has been able to extinguish that light, and in the process of facing raging storms, I’ve been tempered over these many years.
I sang to the choir until I couldn’t do it anymore. The Lord stationed me outside the organized church to go to the byways and highways and ignite the souls of others with that flame of Good News.
“For their minds have been blinded by the god of this age, leaving them in unbelief. Their blindness keeps them from seeing the dayspring light …” — 2 Corinthians 4:4-6 (TPT).
In a footnote, it reads, “The Aramaic translates dayspring light as ‘the flame of the good news.’”
Final brushstroke: These are very dark days. Even a smile shines brightly as Jesus lives in us. During this holiday season — as we turn our attention to Christmas songs, gift giving and family traditions — bring the light to those who are hurting and in deep despair. Be the flame of the Good News. Be willing to be different.
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