a light in the dark

I want to be sure and write down my take away from todays Christmas Eve service before I forget it because it was fantastic!

Life can be tough at times.
This world is fallen, it can be icky and confusing and disheartening.
There is darkness in our world and in our own hearts and minds.
And our society tells us that we can find life in dark places.
But Jesus came close to give us light and life in the darkness.
To be our wonderful counselor through it all.
To give us hope.
And what struck me most of all was Andy's point about being a parent.
That at times we will see darkness in our kids.
We will see things in them, sometimes big sometimes small,  that we know will lead to more darkness if not spoken to.
So as a parent it is up to us to shed light on their darkness.
But it can be hard as kids get older to shed light into their darkness for fear that they may run the other way and disregard you.
For fear that your relationship with them may falter.
But God loves us so perfectly and so much that he is not afraid to shed light into our darkness.
He's not afraid of what we might think or what direction we may run.
But his love is relentless.
I pray that Trip and I would have the courage one day to shed light onto our kids darkness.
That we wouldn't take the easier road for fear of them not liking us.
And I'm thankful that God let there be light again in a dark world.

Merry Christmas!

(he turned 10 months last week, he's pulling up and I think his first tooth is about to pop through)