Alex Bacon, Assistant Wellness Director, offered this outstanding devotion at our weekly staff meeting last week. I hope you find it as meaningful as we did. - Allen

For it is the God who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness’, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

– 2 Corinthians 4:6

For several years when I was a young girl, my family lived in a row house in Richmond, Virginia’s downtown neighborhood called “The Fan” (named such because of the “fan” shape of its array of streets). I loved this neighborhood and its urban vibe. Living in such close proximity to our neighbors, I loved that our house literally “touched” the two houses on either side of ours. I loved that while our front yard was just an 8x8 square of grass, I considered the park across the street ours too. It was a wonderful neighborhood with a great sense of community.

One of the things that I loved the most about living in this area was the holiday spirit displayed in The Fan at Christmastime – specifically its community-wide embrace of window lights. In December, nearly every row house and apartment displayed plastic, electric “candles” in their street-facing windows. The collective effect was glorious. Truly every street and avenue seemed to glow at night thanks to this special holiday ritual.

I loved how our front windows would be ablaze with light from sunset into the night. I can remember even now how excited I was when my Dad considered me old enough to help him set up the candles. And how once my two sisters and I were older, we would divide the candles up between us, (sometimes evenly, oftentimes not) and scatter from room to room, delighted to be the ones now in charge of turning our front windows into magical, glowing spaces.

Decades later, when newly married and merging childhood holiday rituals, my husband blessedly embraced this beloved tradition of mine and our windows followed suit. Now many years, many plastic candles, many replacement bulbs, and a ridiculous number of extension cords later, our house always and without fail displays window candles each Christmas season. And yes, my youngest sister has recently informed me that I can – and probably should – transition to cordless LED window candles complete with suction cups to affix them to the windows AND remote controls which include timers. It sounds extraordinarily simpler for sure. But why mess with tradition? Any related hassle in putting the candles out is, to me, a worthwhile labor of love. But I digress.

The fact that, come December, few other houses in our present neighborhood do the same with their windows has never hindered this ritual for me. Not long after Thanksgiving Day and straight into January, these fake candles glow nightly from our front windows and to me, they represent a beautiful symbol of the best of the season. For me, the collective light of these candles represents a joyful declaration and celebration of the season of Advent – its glorious spirit of anticipation of Christ’s birth and God’s eternal promise that He is our light in the darkness, our protector, our guide and our strength. All year round. And through all times.

Without fail, come January, I find myself resistant to taking our window lights down. Truly, I’d love to keep them in place all year long. I have even found myself telling my family that we have to leave the candles up until at least Epiphany, making it sound as if there is a Biblical justification behind keeping up our candles in place well into the new year.

I treasure these candles and the luminous effect they create because they remind me of God’s glorious light and of the ready availability of God’s comfort. My personal challenge, long after the plastic candles have been packed up and their extension cords similarly rolled up, is to keep the vision of these candles in my mind’s eye and their meaning at the forefront of my heart. Because inevitably, the new year will bring its own challenges, demands and times of darkness. But God’s love, light and strength will always be there for me each and every day.

I just have to keep my eyes open to see it.