Christmas Lights in April

Just before Christmas this past year...and every year before that, we put our holiday lights up on the house, the yard and inside.  I remembered being so frustrated over the way those lights seem to love to tangle themselves up.  It took a long time to get them lined out this past Christmas, as I recall.

Why am I thinking of Christmas lights you might ask?  Because I just took the last of them down today.  That's right, the ones on the two evergreens by the garage.  When I took them down I bunched them up in a pile.  Looking at the pile, I could already see the tangle and already envision that same frustration that would occur next Christmas when I take them out and they have to be untangled.

This blog is about seeing more than the problem, anyone can do that.  This is about seeing the source of the problem.  It doesn't take rocket science for folks to quickly point out all that is wrong.  Seldom does anyone comment on that which goes right...that seems to be expected.  But when the sound squeaks, the air conditioner goofs, or the singer hits a sour one, everyone is quick to notice.  

Take it to the next level.  When someone makes a huge mistake (I have certainly made them) people tend to forget the 'leven-fifty other things that have been done correctly for numbers of years.  We human-beings are so prone to see the ugly.

Once we had an aerial photo of our home taken.  When we got the picture there was the house, the barn, the nice landscaping...and you want to know what someone noticed?  The first thing they said was look how uneven those lines are in the driveway.  Give me a break.

Let's talk about the source of the problem.  The source of my Christmas light tangle is the way I put them up in the spring or summer or...whenever I get good and around to it.  Your area of trouble likely has a source.  Most people in prison come from broken homes.  80% of men in prison had no relationship with their fathers.  Their crime is the trouble, the broken relationship the source.  Anger, fear, broken relationships, frustration, pain, and unforgiveness are often good places to look for the sources of trouble.  The trouble manifests itself in any number of ways...hostility, social drop-out, alcoholism, suicide, chronic depression, etc.

I think I shall either put my lights in the box in an orderly manner, or I shall prepare for frustration next winter about Christmas time.  Check your sources.

Pastor Tim