Padre's Corner - Searching for light
December 14, 2021 - Capt (Padre) Tyler Powell, 3 CDSB Faith Community Coordinator
We have a tradition in our house – no Christmas decorations can go up until after Nov. 11.
This has been a point of considerable angst with my two young kids, but after a couple of years of insisting they have accepted the next best thing… Nov.12!
Sure enough, every Nov. 12, early in the morning, my kids usually jump on me with the kind of enthusiasm you would normally expect for Christmas morning. So, after a generous helping of coffee, to the basement I go to haul out our artificial tree and all the trimmings.
Honestly, I used to find this a little bit annoying, but as the years have gone by this little tradition of theirs has started to grow on me. Maybe it’s the pandemic, or just the short days/long nights of winter, but having the twinkle of the Christmas tree light up my living room has brought a little holiday cheer into our home.
Is this such a bad thing? With everything going on these days, why fault a little extra light, a little extra joy in our lives? Putting up the Christmas tree has certainly made my kids happy, and it’s not like it cost me anything.
In a way, I think my kids have touched on something we could all spend a little bit of time reflecting on – in these dark days of winter, is there something we could be doing for ourselves that would bring some light into our lives?
For my kids, it was putting up the Christmas tree. A colleague of mine recently took up running with a Runners Room group – for exercise sure but also for community. Another has taken up painting and sculpting, and their work is actually quite impressive.
The point is, all it takes is the light of a single candle to shatter the inky black of the dark.
For Christians, we have just passed the third Sunday of Advent, aptly called the Season of Lights. It’s a time where Christians prepare to celebrate the birth of Jesus the Christ through prayer, worship, carol singing and acts of generosity. Every single Sunday starting on Nov. 28 and lasting until Christmas day we will be lighting candles.
In my Christian tradition, and many others, we use a wreath, usually with five candles on it. Each week that wreath gets brighter as more candles are lit, as more light shines.
So, here’s a challenge for you to consider – there are five candles on an advent wreath: what five things can you think of that you can do for yourself or others? Don’t overthink it; take a pen and paper and write down the first five things that come to mind. Put up your holiday decorations, take up a new hobby, or try something new; it doesn’t matter – what matters is the positivity it might bring into your life or others.
You never know, you might start a new tradition to carry on in the years ahead.
I hope you have a wonderful holiday and I wish you much light and life! Godspeed.