Day 3 of Advent…Stay in the “Son” Light

So I bought this little snowman decoration for my dad’s birthday this weekend. He said “NO GIFTS!”, but I couldn’t resist. The chubby little plastic snowman is only about 5 inches tall with a great big smile on his face. The unique thing about the snowman is he is solar powered, no batteries needed. Once he gets in the sunlight he begins to dance, actually kind of just bobble back and forth, but he jiggles happily from head to toe.

In observing this little guy, I noticed when he is infused by the first light of sun he begins to dance, slowly at first, and picks up momentum as the sunlight intensifies. On cloudy days he jiggles less aggressively, but on days like today where the sun is shining brightly in Seattle, he is dancing up a storm!

I also have observed that he continues to dance for quite a long time even after the sun has gone down and darkness has taken over the sky. However, eventually his dancing slows down little by little as the energy the sun produced is expelled – until finally he stops dancing all together. I’m not sure when he stops, as he continues to dance long after I have gone to bed. However, in the morning I find him motionless. All his energy has been drained.

With the long dark winter hours I have tried to put him under “artificial” lighting, (my lamp), first thing in the morning to get him going, but to no avail. Oh he sputters a little and looks like he is going to start dancing, but it quickly dies out. It isn’t until the sunlight peaks through the darkness that he once again starts to soak up the rays and begins his happy dance, continuing to build momentum as he bathes in the sun’s light.

In thinking about my little snowman and his obvious need for sunlight to function properly and happily, I related that to our life in Christ. We too function at our very optimum when we are in the “Son” light. We start out slowly at first, baby steps, but as we continue to trust more and more on Him, we pick up momentum. God fills us with his “Son” light, His love, His blessings. As we soak up more and more of God, we begin to “dance” like my snowman. And similarly we begin to loose joy and momentum as we move away from the “Son’s” light. We can maintain our motion for a while apart from Him, but eventually if we are away from Him long enough we become as lifeless as my snowman in the early morning. We can also look for substitutes for the “Son” light. But these “artificial” gods won’t sustain us. Oh we may experience some “dancing, but only Christ is everlasting.

This Christmas I’m going to be more like my snowman…soaking in the “Son” light, remembering the importance of staying close to God and the reason for the season…and also being wary of the artificial imposter “light” that may fill me for the moment but is not life sustaining. I challenge you this Holiday season to dance in the “Son’s” light along with me…like my snowman.

(PS. I’m going to have a hard time giving up the snowman to my Dad.)

Frosty the snowman was a jolly happy soul… There must have been “Son” magic in that old silk hat they found… for when they placed it on his head he began to dance around…