Tangled

So far this Advent I’ve had the opportunity on two occasions to untangle strings of Christmas light bulbs. Precisely how the carefully looped mass of strings and fragile ceramic bulbs get into such a mess will remain a mystery forever. No matter how intently I attempt to store them with some semblance of order they somehow mischievously work themselves into a massive knot. This maddeningly tangle of wires and glass are only discovered months later, when Adventarrives and the decorating begins.

As I struggled to maintain my composure and work through the mass laid out before me I contemplated how the tangles could represent our spiritual lives as well....

After each Christmas season, we start a new year. With the flip of a new calendar to the month of January, we make resolutions in earnest. These promises of self improvement may last days, months, weeks. But usually they are discarded as the distractions of life creep up on us.

We find this in our spiritual life just as well as in the non-spiritual resolutions. How often have we made a goal in the new year to eat better, exercise more, get more sleep or spend less? Have we promised to spend more time volunteering, giving to charity, doing works of mercy, making hours of adoration?

Coming straight out of the Christmas season our hearts are blazing with good intentions.

In spring, we have Lent and if we’ve already discarded our spiritual goals, we dust them off and begin again in earnest. Usually we can keep them going during these 40 days.

But then comes along summer and with it our goals often go on vacation. By fall, the leaves are falling off the trees just as much as our good intentions are falling off our minds. And before we know it, Advent is there and our spiritual lives are just as tangled as the wires of colored lights.

Another way to look at this is though the tanglement of sin.

Sin could be symbolized by the mass of tangled wires and bulbs. At Christmas we shine bright just like the bulbs. We celebrate the birth of Jesus, we look in the manger and we are festive and joyful. Then when the new year begins, our pure intentions are wrapped lovingly in carefully laid loops and we tend to put our spiritual goals on hold when the stressors of everyday life creep in.

As bulbs, we no longer shine, as we let the sins of worry, gossip, greed, envy, impatience and pride creep in. Before we know it, our sinful ways are just as tangled as the string of bulbs! One little untruth, one tiny rumor of gossip, one moment of selfishness can grow and fester and tangle!!

The great news is all is not lost. Just as we untangle the mass of bulbs, we can untangle our spiritual lives. Neither is easy but with patience all can be accomplished. With wires and bulbs it takes loving hands to separate the mass and put it back in order. With our sins it takes a loving act of confession and a forgiving God. Just as we undo the ravages of time in the loops of wire, God does to us in the untangling of our sinful ways.

The confessional is open, the light is on. Now is the time to go untangle the mess in your life so you can shine brightly on Christmas day!