All the shiny

I have read that retailers report selling more Christmas decorations and lights this year.  A casual survey within my neighborhood bears this out – roughly a 50% increase in houses with light displays, and more extravagant lights in many of them.  This has, of course, has led to media speculation as to why.  

Being bored at home, do people need to stimulate a little Christmas cheer?  Is it a distraction from the trials that the year has brought?  Are they spreading the joyful light of twinkle icicles and laser snowflakes to a weary world? 

I gave this some thought as I decorated our own tree with literally every shiny glass ornament we own (and we own quite a lot).  My tree this year has all the shiny.

shin·y /ˈSHīnē/ adjective
1.     (of a smooth surface) reflecting light, typically because very clean or polished.

Shiny is an interesting word.  It can mean a distraction “oh look – shiny!”  Or it can be something that glitters, but without substance of its own.  But in its purest sense, without judgment, it is simply reflecting light.  

Last evening Bruce called me outside.  “Come look at the moon” he said.  In the clear winter sky, the last full moon of the year shone overhead.  Around the moon was a white ring – ice crystals high in the atmosphere.  The moon has no light of its own, it reflects the sun.  In its turn, the ice in the sky reflected the moon.  It was quite bright out.

For the last few years I’ve picked a word to help me focus the year.  My word for 2020 has been “Hopeful.”  There have been times this year when the word has seemed a cruel irony.  Other times it has been a precious thread to hold onto.

 This year I choose to Shine. Not to be the light, but to reflect it - as best I can - in a weary world. 

The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.  John 1:5

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