The first post always sucks...

Last night I put up Christmas lights. Yes, I know that there are only 9 days until Christmas. I just felt like doing it. Of course, in the great Cannon tradition, I put them up with the worst weather we've had all winter happening. Although this house will be great for a massive display, I held off. Someday, I will go Clark Griswold on the house...but not this time. This was just a few strands thrown up quickly. It was actually nice to be in the cold weather, rather than running from my car to a heated building. After a while, it didn't feel that bad anymore. I even took off my gloves for a little bit.

I like to use a variety of lights when I decks the halls. I use strands with globe lights, stars, balls, medium sized bulbs and the miniature bulbs. I like the medium the best. Those lights go on the tree, no questions asked. Also, I use multi-colored lights. All white lights are too Martha Stewart.
Anyway, last night, I was plugging in the miniature lights and about 5 strands had either a bulb out (killing the rest of the lights) or a fuse was out. The funny thing is that they actually wrap two strands together and give them each a fuse. So each of these superstrands really were half lit, as they bulb or fuse problems in one of the strands. Really annoying. Luckily, I have an infiite supply of lights and was able to finish without using those strands.

Here's my thought on this, and it's pretty basic. I am able to get certain "strands" in my life lit. In fact, I look pretty good at times. But there are huge pockets of my life where there is a bulb out or a fuse blown. Most of the time, I just look at the lit bulbs and go "all right, I look great!". But if I really look, I see the lights that are out and realize I look tacky and thrown together. When it comes down to it, am I willing to let God strip the strands off, replace the bulbs, pull out the fuses or throw it out all together?