All About the Lights?

As I was driving the other day, actually the 27th ...noticing all the Christmas lights,  a question came to mind "When did Christmas become all about the lights?"
They are everywhere! Almost every house has something for lights.
Some simple; one color strands,
Single lights in the window, a tree or two in the yard with lights.
Then there is the more extravagant;
A house totally outlined in colored lights and every tree in their yard has lights up the trunks and in the branches. A half dozen inflatable lit up Christmas figures on one lawn, from Mickey Mouse to the Grinch.
We have one house not far from where I live that has radio station call numbers lit up and when you tune to the station Christmas music is playing and the lights dance in time with the rhythm!
There is one house that is uplit green with white lights..simple and beautiful.
And not just in the yard, but in our homes, our trees lit with all varieties of colored lights as well as wreaths, candles, nativities, and much more, all lit up.
There is me..I love lights...little white lights..and I like mine all year round.  I have a single strand of white around  my yard, well, on the front of my house now. But they are up all year ..as well as little strands of white lights through out my house. Love the lights!

But again...When did Christmas become all about the lights?
Well, as I though about it, I realized...  it always has been...

📖 We saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.” Matthew 2:2
The wisemen saw a star, but not just any ordinary star, one that they had learned and studied from prophecy. 
📖 “I see him, but not now;
    I behold him, but not near.
A star will come out of Jacob;
    a scepter will rise out of Israel.
He will crush the foreheads of Moab,    the skulls of  all the people of Sheth. Numbers 24:17
and it wasn't just any star, because this one caused them great joy!  They knew that it was pointing the way to the King.  It wasn't an ordinary star, just brighter than the rest, it was a special star, created with purpose and much brighter than any star that had ever been, or ever will be!

📖 After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star they had seen when it rose went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was.  When they saw the star, they were overjoyed.  On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. Matthew 2:9-11

Light was present that first Christmas in more places than that star. 

^📖  An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. Luke 2:9   
The GLORY of the LORD, I am guessing, was bright and shining! A great light that lit up the whole field the shepherds were in, it "shone all around them!"
And when a multitude of heavenly hosts appears, the heavenly light must be almost blinding.

📖 Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,

“Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.” Luke 2:13-14

Jesus came and fulfilled prophecy....He knew that He was here for a purpose....

📖 When Jesus heard that John had been put in prison, he withdrew to Galilee. Leaving Nazareth, he went and lived in Capernaum, which was by the lake in the area of Zebulun and Naphtali— to fulfill what was said through the prophet Isaiah:

“Land of Zebulun and land of Naphtali,
    the Way of the Sea, beyond the Jordan,
    Galilee of the Gentiles—

the people living in darkness
    have seen a great light;
on those living in the land of the shadow of death    a light has dawned." 

 From that time on Jesus began to preach, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near." Matthew 4:12-17

He came to be the LIGHT of the world...
 When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, 

📖 “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” John 8:12

SO When did Christmas become all about the lights???  It always has been ….about the ONE true LIGHT!
So as we see all the Christmas lights and even as they are being taken down and stored for another year, let them remind us that the reason we celebrate Christmas and the reason we should celebrate every day.... is the LIGHT of the WORLD came to us on that first Christmas night! The BEST CHRISTMAS LIGHT!