Last Christmas hubby gave me the gift of a day-by-day calendar, where you pull a page off each day. From all outward appearances, this gift looked like a simple normal ordinary block of paper. But hidden inside was a beautiful, intricate paper sculpture.
What did the paper sculpture hidden inside the day-by-day calendar look like? I had no idea. I had never had a calendar like this before. I couldn’t even imagine what it might look like.
I tried to flip the pages and peek to see if I could get a glimpse of what was “hidden” inside … but I couldn’t really tell.
Now, a full year later I rose bright and early on Christmas morning and went to the kitchen to pull off a page from my daily calendar. Lo and behold … there were no more pages to pull off. I had reached the end! I was particularly delighted that the little calendar had reached its official end on Christmas Day!
Not only that … hubby surprised me by informing me that there is a light inside my little paper calendar sculpture. What!? I had no idea.
Hubby went to get some batteries and … Voila!
Is that not amazing!! I was beyond thrilled! What a spectacular Christmas surprise!
It was right about this time that the sky to the east was just beginning to faintly turn colors in anticipation of a sunrise. A Christmas sunrise! I haven’t seen a sunrise in weeks! And a Christmas sunrise would be a likewise spectacular Christmas gift!
Hubby and I pulled on our coats and headed out to the end of the road to watch the sunrise together.
It was chilly … and utterly quiet. We stood in the silence and peace of the early morning, taking in the expansive views to the east.
The ridgeline of the Cascades slowly grew brighter and brighter with crimson …
.
And then … in an instant, it was all over. The above photo was taken at 7:42am … and by 7:45am it was all gone. The sky was completely grey. It began raining a couple of hours later … and rained the entire rest of the day!
Hubby and I walked back to the house, and when I came inside there sat my little day-by-day calendar with the light still glowing inside. I couldn’t help but think of the juxtaposition of light – between the light of the Christmas sunrise and the light inside my little calendar house.
Christmas is all about light! The Light of the World (Jesus Christ) came into the world … just like the light of the sunrise came into the world Christmas morning!
But the light of the sun was hidden for the rest of Christmas Day by heavy grey clouds and rain. In the same way, the Light of Jesus Christ is “hidden” by the heaviness of sin in our heart.
“The god of this age [Satan] has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.” – 2 Corinthians 4:4
The verse continues though: “For God, who said ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ. But we have this treasure in jars of clay [aka: little paper calendars] to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us.” – 2 Corinthians 4:6
The Light of the World (Jesus Christ) came into the world just like the sun coming into the world on Christmas Day … and if we accept and follow Jesus, the light of Jesus comes right into our very life! Just like the light in the little house of my paper calendar! The light now is in us! This is mind-blowing!
At the beginning of the year, when my paper day-by-day calendar was first given to me, I had no idea the beauty which was hidden inside for this year of 2024. It has been a very hard year! There have been struggles! And sickness! And disappointments! Just like my day-by-day calendar has had many pages which are dark, which I have pulled off by day.
However, my day-by-day calendar has also had many beautiful pages of pale sparkly purple, and blue, and gold! Just like this past year of 2024 has also had many beautiful days which have likewise sparkled with blessings of purple, and pale blue, and gold!
Hardships and blessings … all mixed in together among the days to make a beautiful “sculpture” of this year of 2024!
The dark pages were needed, because the little house in my day-by-day calendar needed the dark sections for the roof, etc.
And the sparkly golden sections were also needed … to make the support beams of the house! The normal, ordinary tan pages were needed for the tree trunk. And the pale sparkly purple and blue were needed for the tree canopy!
All of the pages were needed! Every page was important for my sculpture to turn out the way it was supposed to!
And underneath it all … light was there! Light was inside there the whole time!
In life, we’ll have some dark, hard days. We’ll have a lot of normal ordinary “tan-page” days. But we’ll also have many beautiful golden sparkly days too! All of the days are needed! All of the days are useful and important for the “sculpture” of our life to turn out the way it is supposed to be!
And underneath it all … light is there!
If we love and follow Jesus Christ, His light is there in our life! Shining out with beauty and brilliance in the darkness!
Thank you God for Christmas Light!
Thank you God, for the blessing of a Christmas sunrise!
Thank you Jesus, for coming into the world to be the Light!
Thank you God for such a beautiful finish to this year’s 2024 paper calendar … with light shining out in the end!
Thank you Jesus that as we wrap up this year of 2024, no matter what has happened, you have been there with us through it all! And you continue to shine brightly though the little paper “sculpture” of our life! We are so grateful!
