Advent and Lighthouses

With scheduling conflicts and years when I was a simple attendee, it was 2012 before I decorated my second table for an Advent Tea. My theme was lighthouses, and that is my table in the photo at the head of this post.

The centerpiece was topped with a ceramic Big Red, the lighthouse at Holland, Michigan, which is displayed year-round in my living room. It has a light inside it, but I had no way to plug it in. For the tea, I surrounded Big Red with photos of other Lake Michigan lighthouses that I had taken on a sailing vacation the year before. I used my best dishes, and I suppose the set-up came close to being elegant, although that wasn’t my intent.

It was easy to tie the theme in with Advent since Jesus came as the Light of the World. To emphasize it, my favor that year was a laminated copy of my poem “The Lighthouse,” which I wrote in 2011. The poem follows:

The Lighthouse
 

A light has come to save the world,
            A lowly baby born,
It shines its beam on rocky shoals
            From evening until morn.
 
When storms of life beat on my boat,
            And winds begin to blow,
The beacon shines across the waves
            With its resplendent glow.
 
Mist and haze may hide the reefs,
            Clouding up my sight,
But though they blind my eyes at times,
            They cannot veil the light.
           
As lighthouse keeper I must go
            And rescue those in danger,
For one in peril on the sea
            Can never be a stranger.
 
The harbor light beams steady on
            Wherever I may roam,
A welcome blaze when life is done
            To guide me safely home.

 May His light shine on you this week