All the Lights Above Chick Fil A
My children love Christmas lights- as so many children do.
They evoke something magical, something that isn’t of this everyday world. Some kind of hope, a literal light in the dark- just as Jesus was when He was born.
I remember being little and driving down this one road in my town- Matheson Drive. It’s not a great part of town, now or even then. Starter homes are a generous name for these houses. But there was always this one house with a cavalcade of lights in colorful splendor. They were erected by this one, lone, elderly man. Each year we would drive down this side street on our way to school to see if he started to put them up. And then slowly, over time, the array of lights would dwindle… until one year they were no more. I never knew his name.
The magic started to fade as I aged. Christmas seasons were a tad more bitter, until my own children were born. And the light could return.
During the season of my divorce, we would go see the lights over Chick Fil A- placed there as part of the Light More Homes program by Habitat for Humanity. My children would ooooo and ahhhh as I ordered their food, the lights moving in sync with music for the season. Oh, Holy Night would crescendo as I would hide my tears… my marriage, what little of it there was, was falling apart and would not finish falling apart. Sometimes I would drive my children over there on a Sunday, when the store was closed, and we would gather in a silent communion with other parked cars to watch the lights and listen to hymns.
The lights have been moved to Mercer Village- growing in number and glory each year. My children like to say that they miss them being over at Chick Fil A, getting a milkshake treat while they drove under the glowing magic. The bittersweet feelings I felt have followed me wherever the lights go, but still with a reminder that light overcomes dark as the lights show out in their exalted magnificence. Lights at Mercer village… and lights downtown. I am determined to bring a little bit of that magic back to my house this year, and light up our home- perhaps bringing that hope to another person who might find themselves struggling for hope this season.
