Broken Bulbs

Two days after putting our first ever Christmas tree decorations up,we had a problem. There was a whole bunch of stuff that went up; including the tree, the hanging bits, the table decorations, the candles, and even some outside lights.

Now these lights aren't full on, they are not tacky or over the top, just one simple set of white berry lights above our porch. I thought it would be simple, how wrong I was. Two days after them being up and on display for or whole neighbourhood to see (as we are new to our road there is a higher pressure to make a good impression!), I noticed something. One evening on my way into the house I saw a dark patch. Not only had 1 light gone out, but the Nearby bulbs were out too. So annoying. I spent a half hour trying to figure out which was the duff bulb to no avail. 1 light has gone (I still haven't sorted it), and it's knocked some of the others out too.

It reminded me about people. We are an easily influenced bunch. If 1 of our group is in a bad mood, everyone else in the group may get in a foul mood too. If one person begins to slag someone off, it's just so easy to fall in line and join in. Too many times have I seen whole groups of friends leave church and drift away from God because one of them decides to leave and the other follow behind them.

1 person going out can cause others to go out too.

Naturally, our relationship with God and our walks with God are all individual, and they are not based on other people's spiritual journeys. But we would be totally naive to think that we weren't influenced by other people. We can't control it, it's in our nature to be led by others, we cant stop being influenced by other people. But we can control who we are influenced by. Get the right people around you. People who aren't likely to be like bulbs that 'go out'. Be near LED people, who stay alight, who's lights shine brightly, consistently. Be influenced by those kinds of people, people who inspire and cause you to burn brighter. Then maybe we can avoid strings of people leaving churches, as we stick together, keeping our lights burning bright for Him...

Anyway, better get back to fixing these outside lights, any help greatly appreciated!