Reprinted here is part of my Christmas letter from last year.  So many people told me that it spoke to them that I am reprinting it here.

Wishing to everyone who reads this a blessed holiday season.

Luann

***

Is it a grey November afternoon and I am looking at a bare Christmas tree and a snake’s nest of hopelessly-enmeshed strands of tree lights. The thought of spending hours untangling the lights and then twisting strings of greyish blobs in and out of prickly tree branches does not thrill me.  

I remember, though, that I can plug each strand of lights in before I place it in the tree. What a difference!  Suddenly I am holding in my hand a group of shining multicolored stars, tangled but beautiful, a swarm of jewel-like globes of light.  Their bright colors transform the fading light of a dark winter day into a multicolored moment rich with beauty and joy and possibilities. I gaze down at the tiny galaxy of glowing stars in my hand and I wonder if this joy is what God feels, looking at one of the galaxies he has made.

The thought comes into my mind that there is perhaps another galaxy of brightly colored little lights, lights that only God can see…   that perhaps every good deed and selfless prayer creates its own brightly-colored little light, in a spiritual realm that our eyes cannot see.

My unruly mind tends to gravitate towards the darkness in our world. But this year, I think, as I unwind the tiny heavens in my hand, this year will be different. This year, every time I see a Christmas light, I will choose to believe that it stands for one of the hundreds of thousands of good deeds occurring every moment in our world… a listening ear, a hug given, a word of comfort spoken, a card sent, a prayer offered, a carol sung.  

And I will give thanks for the good works of the thousands of people in the world who believe as I do in the Light that always conquers the Darkness.