Our Christmas message to you this year

 

"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times..." is the opening line to a classic favorite, "A Tale of Two Cities" by Charles Dickens. That man had a way with words. 2023 was one of those years for us. We had milestone birthdays and family gatherings and were reunited with family members after many years. We even had a vacation to New Hampshire and Maine coast. The worst of times was losing two loved ones, a sister and a niece. 

Cleaning out George's sister's apartment, we were again reminded the value of our earthly possessions. and the older we get, the more we notice just how much we have accumulated in our lives. Purging can be such a daunting task. Often things will take us down memory lane as we decide whether to let go of the tangible piece of a memory that we are holding in our hands. 

When I was purging some of our things this year, I stumbled across the copy of the rules for our first road rally in August 1975. We were given clues and drove all around Bloomfield area looking for specific landmarks--mind you, this was before cell phones, so it was all brain power. It was timed so that if you went too fast, you were penalized. The distance between clues was in kilometers and we had to convert them to miles. 

I love games and puzzles. This was a challenge and the stress of reading clues, converting mileage, and finding the landmarks tested our ability to problem solve and handle stress together, which led us both to doubt our upcoming wedding in November. Perhaps this should be part of pre-marital counseling. Despite the bad parts, we always, over the years, whenever we heard of a road rally, jumped on the chance to do it. Later we learned about letter boxing and had fun deciphering those clues, sometimes successfully and other times not so well--one time we even got lost in the woods. But we don't give up and we are proud to say that we won a scavenger hunt in Norfolk only a few years ago.

Why am I rambling on about this? Well, I was thinking about how much I love trivia and learning. I find myself on the internet on so many rabbit trails or down rabbit holes that I even googled the difference between those two terms. I mean who doesn't need to know that Borden's cow, Elsie, was married to Elmer (of the glue fame) and they had two children, Beauregard and Buella? Or that penguins take 10,000 4 second power naps (microsleeps) a day? Or that Karen is the name of a foreign language? Those are just a sampling of the trails I have followed.

I was thinking about our lives and how they are like a scavenger hunt. Some seek money, some fame, some love, some just fun. How we get there is our journey. We learn some things along the way, some the hard way, some just by our accumulation of lifelong experiences. 

This fall we took a 12-week Alpha course at our church (we highly recommend it). One week we were challenged to study this famous painting, "The Light of the World" based on Revelation 3:20 "Behold I stand at the door and knock, if anyone hears my voice, and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him and he with me." It is obvious that Jesus is knocking at a door that hasn't been opened with the weeds growing on the outside, representing the unbelieving heart. The door has no door handle on the outside, only the person on the other side can open the door. I went on more rabbit trails and to not take up too much room, here, I'll give you these clues to think about in the painting: "the word is a lamp unto my feet", the apple tree, the holes in the hand, the stars on the lantern, a bat, so many things to study. I also learned the artist, William Holman Hunt, was an atheist earlier in his life. But mostly this picture touched us. Note he is looking straight ahead perhaps to his next stop. The greatest treasure to seek is to open the door and follow the light of that lamp, the word of God, to lead the way in our earthly journey as we follow trails we didn't expect to be on.

For George and me, as our lives go through the worst of times and the best of times, we always know that the Word of God is a lamp to our feet and will guide us when we find ourselves too deep in that hole or lost on a trail, not knowing which way to go. At Christmas we are reminded that Jesus came to the earth to light the way for us through his sacrifice. We wish you the best of times this Christmas. It doesn't always happen, but regardless of the times, our Christmas wish for you is may your door be open, your path be lit, and your hearts be joyful. Wishing you many Christmas blessings.