“I’ve learned that you can tell a lot about a person by the way they handle these three things: A rainy day, lost luggage, and tangled Christmas lights.” -Maya Angelou 

As this year comes to a close we’ll start hearing Resolutions for the New Year…

This past year I didn’t do Resolutions, just did this Revolution of Real project. After I started writing God started asking me for my Yes. 

It started out like a big tangled ball of word, and lights, and slowly began to unravel. With each yes I said, another knot became untangled- and I began to find that the more real I was, the more life made sense. 

During this time I began to hear stories, or other people’s real. Some of them were beautiful…friends struggling to get pregnant – conceiving twins, adoptions going through. People finding love again. People finding life again, after a diagnosis or an addiction. Forgiveness. Freedom. 

Then there was that twisted knots of real…friends living through divorce, abuse, infidelity, death. These words and real were hard and gave way to a whole new set of harsh realities that come from starting over again, when your heart is in a million pieces. Resentment. Hurt. Hatred. Prisoner of grief. 

And here we are. The 20th of December. 

Tonight after church we drove around looking at the Christmas lights that strung across homes. Some twinkled and some were a shower of color and display. We drove past each slowly. Some of the houses were subtle, some over the top. And some were dark. No lights. 

There was one house though that had half of its house lit, while it looked like half of the strands were out. It looked a little lopsided, as if it was a house broken into two. 

It got me thinking as we made our way back home. We stare at houses as we drive by…the bright, the subtle, the dark, and we never really understand what is going on inside. We never really know what’s behind doors and windows…we never really know. 

It’s easy to judge or speculate…but sometimes we just need to be there. To let someone speak their real…the good, and the bad. To be there for the tangled and the dark, to shine a little light. Even the smallest twinkle. Be there. 

And to pray…for them. With them. 

It wasn’t so long ago that I was surrounded by beautiful lights, and lives I created and I slowly wrapped myself in the tangled, in the dark. So I don’t forget those who may need us. They may not realize how tangled they are.

Notice the lights. Even when you feel dark. 

Be real. Say Yes.

And may God slowly untangle the knots, and help you shine again.