...Be a Cynic

It is easy this time of year to be caught up in busyness and excess. We live in the center of the first world. Even if we try not to give into materialism during the holidays, it’s difficult to avoid the bourgeois feeling of spending and consuming.

In a season otherwise marked by joy and hope, I’ll openly confess my inclination towards cynicism. Sometimes I question others’ motives, scoff at positivity, and give into hopelessness.

Therefore, as I ready myself for Christmas, stress seems more prominent than anything else. Adam asked a client yesterday if she was "ready for Christmas". My response would have looked like this: "I still have 4 presents to wrap, 3 things to make, 2 parties to go to, and a partridge in a pear tree". Her response was "I'm always ready for Him."

My skepticism showed. Her light showed.

So as I waited in line for my cup of holiday cheer from Starbucks, I wondered if I am light at all? Is there anything about me that shines before others? In the current condition of my heart, I’ll hazard a guess at “No”.

We are in a season of light. Not only the lights the led the Magi or appeared to the Shepherds, but lights that deck our halls and homes and towns. Like kids, Adam and I sat looking at our decorated living room where twinkling string lights made our home feel magical. They warmed our faces with a golden glow.

However, the merriment of the holidays doesn't take away the list of needs or hurts in our own lives or the lives of others. Given this revelation after a Christmas party last night, Adam and I started asking cynical questions. Can “bad” and “good” coexist? Is it God that allows it? If there is bad stuff, are we faking it in the good stuff?  We live in such a broken world – what the heck is the point, outside of Sunday school answers?

Any good story-line has a hero and villain. In Peter and the Secret of Rundoon (a lovely prequel to J.M. Barrie’s Peter Pan) Leonard Aster says to the evil Lord Ombra:

"Light overcomes darkness. A tiny match can illuminate the darkest room. As long as there is some light somewhere in the universe you can be defeated.”

My response to Adam in the midst of our cynicism was very similar to Leonard’s:  light wins. If darkness is the absence of light, then they must coexist. Darkness is literally defined by light.

The best stories have a good vs. evil scenario because all good stories mirror the Gospel (which literally means "good news"). If good overcomes evil and light wins over darkness, that means we have hope that anchors the soul. It is within my power to choose the see the world as a beautiful place to be.
 
So what is the cure for cynicism? Light.

Choose Light with me.

 "But if we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin."
[1 John 1:7]