And when eight days were completed for the circumcision of the Child, His name was called JESUS, the name given by the angel before He was conceived in the womb. Now when the days of her purification according to the law of Moses were completed, they brought Him to Jerusalem to present Him to the Lord . . . And behold, there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon, and this man was just and devout, waiting for the Consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him. And it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Christ. So he came by the Spirit into the temple. And when the parents brought in the Child Jesus, to do for Him according to the custom of the law, he took Him up in his arms and blessed God and said: “Lord, now You are letting Your servant depart in peace, According to Your word; For my eyes have seen Your salvation Which You have prepared before the face of all peoples, A light to bring revelation to the Gentiles, And the glory of Your people Israel.” (Luke 2:21-32 NKJV)
When I was growing up in the fifties-sixties era, my dad served as pastor to a small Missionary Baptist congregation in Gadsden, Alabama. There was an elderly lady there, Granny Aikins, who allowed her granddaughters to color her hair from time to time. She had beautiful, glistening white hair, but occasionally and for whatever reason she let those girls put “a rinse” in it.
Granny Aikins was ahead of the curve in terms of hair color. Sometimes her hair would be a bright blue, sometimes green, and even shades of burgundy and purple. It was probably due to the quality of the solutions her granddaughters used and their knowledge of how to apply it, but we youth of the church thought it was funny to see this elderly woman with various shades of hair color.
We all loved this ancient lady. She was sweet and kind and witnessed of Jesus to each of us every time she came to church. She was concerned about our eternal souls. Granny Aikins prayed for us and our group of noisy young people accepted Christ as Savior and Lord.
Then one Sunday her place was vacant. Granny Aikins had died in her sleep and awakened in the arms of Jesus, like she had testified so many times before. It is possible that she prayed down the revival in which many of us committed our lives to Christ. That revival continued for several weeks with great results, but Granny Aikins never saw the results. She reminds me of Simeon in the Temple when Joseph and Mary came to present their eight-day-old son to the Lord.
Simeon came into the Temple with hope. He recognized the One who gives hope. He was content to hold Hope in his arms and pronounce blessings of hope. Christmas is about hope. Not simply the hope of Christ’s birth, but the hope his birth affirmed — the hope his life taught — the hope his death and resurrection sealed — the hope of his promised return.
Like Simeon, Granny Aikins was blessed to see the Lord’s salvation revealed in our church. She knew that she could depart this life in peace because she had seen the light of God’s revelation. She held out hope to us and died in the hope of the resurrection and eternal life . . . all because of the Savior who was born in Bethlehem so many years before.
Dear Father, thank you for the hope you give through Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. Empower us to share our hope with those around us. This I pray in the name of Jesus. AMEN
Be encouraged today in the hope Christ gives,