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All in Good Time

"I must work the works of Him who sent me while it is day; the night is coming when no one can work."

-John 9:4

This past weekend, my dad and I took on the daunting task of setting up Christmas lights outside of our house. Our neighbors across the street tend to go all out for their Christmas decorations, and in friendly competition, my dad decided we should give them a little run for their money.

We started at lunch time and worked up to dinner time. Hanging lights on trees, tripping on extension cords, fixing the broken Christmas characters (the Grinch had seen better days), tripping on extension cords, moving ladders here and there, and tripping on extension cords. Did I mention tripping on extension cords?

Luckily for us, we saw the sun quickly setting. We had finally gotten the last of the decorations up, and we were frankly tuckered out. My dad and I trudged inside, into the warmth of our home, and I didn't leave the couch until it was time for bed. I think its safe to say we were exhausted.

While my dad and I were inside, we realized a few things wrong with our lights. First, the lights on the tree in front of our house were inside lights, not meant for outside and definitely not shining to our expectations. Second, the lights we hung on our house were not working as they should have, and my parents had spent a LOT of money on them. And third, a couple little Christmas light-up stakes lining our house didn't work at all, even though we had spent good time pacing out the spaces between them and positioning them just right. The outcome wasn't quite what we had wanted, even through all of our labor.

The sad truth about our Christianity day by day is that the unfortunate fates of the Christmas decorations is reflective of our lives. Allow me to begin with the first problem: the lights on the tree in front of our house.

Through our days, we can so often misplace things, just like we misplaced the inside lights for the outdoor lights. We can also misplace our Christianity. We can forget it for one second, which is just enough time for another distraction to creep into it's place. Whether its a new show you have been addicted to, and before you know it, its 12 a.m. and you haven't done your Bible study, or work, or homework, or friends. (Matt. 6:19-21; Matt. 6:33) Whatever it is, if it takes the place of God, it isn't where it should be and, like the Christmas lights, our spiritual light will not shine to it's full potential. (Matt. 5:16)

The second problem we had was the expensive lights that failed to live up to their price. My parents had spent so much money on these, and we hung them up high so that the whole neighborhood could see them. Yet at night, when we looked, we saw dim lights not fulfilling their purpose. They were supposed to change color using a phone app, but they did nothing. It was truly disappointing, something we had valued so much and spent so much money on had not accomplished the ask at hand, and was therefore useless. This reminds me of the church in Laodicea, which was lukewarm, and made the Lord so sick He wanted to "vomit them out" of His mouth. (Rev. 3: 14-22)

The last was the cared for, time-consuming Christmas stakes. The delicate glass was a difficult obstacle that we had to be extra gentle about, so that plus the spacing and pushing into our rocky soil was a timely task. Yet the time we put into them was not well spent, as many weren't working properly. We could have used that time to better our other Christmas decorations, even fix the other two problems, but we spent it on a lost cause. (Eph. 5: 15-16). We are to make the most of the time that God has gifted us with, for wasted time will be a barrier to our relationship with God. Time is precious, remember to spend it as so. (Psalm 90:12)

I hope you have taken from this lesson what I have taken. Examples are all around us; that's just another amazing thing about God's Creation. I pray as you go through this month that you will live properly in Him, not wasting time or energy on useless things, but being about God's work forever and always, even to that day of rest. I love you all, peace be with you.

In Him,

Halle Nelsen


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