We took our walk this evening after sundown and darkness had settled in for the night. This is a great time of the year. Many of our neighbors have already decorated their homes for the holidays with a vast array of lights. We do not have street lights so the homes are extra beautiful with no competing light. One house has brightly lit angels in the yard.
As we walked along I thought of a passage in II Chronicles 3 talking about Solomon decorating the home He built for the Lord. “He decorated the house with precious stones for beauty, and the gold was gold from Parvaim. He also overlaid the house—the beams and doorposts, its walls and doors—with gold; and he carved cherubim on the walls.”
The luminosity in our neighborhood is beautiful. I also thought of somethingPaul wrote to Timothy about decorating our lives. Instead of lots of external gold he counseled us to decorate our lives with good works and modesty. Just think about how beautiful people are that are kind and unselfish. In college one of the guys had a large purple birthmark on his face. One year at Thanksgiving he announced that he was having it removed. We were dumbfounded. He was so kind and so Christ-like we saw no need for him to do that. We thought he was handsome because of the kind of person he was. We ceased to see the birthmark because he was so decorated with good works. He was a quality person.
This is the season for decorating. This is the season to be thankful, generous, forgiving and kind. This is the season to be beautiful.
Written by Roger Bothwell on December 1, 2015
rogerbothwell.org