News

Editorial: The faint light

By Scott Wagar

12/17/2013

Many years ago, I wrote a column about a story that happened in Bottineau County during the mid-1900s in the Christmas Season.

This year, as I have watched the holiday spirit going around our nation, I have decided to re-tell this story because to me it has an important Christmas messages that I feel is important to share.

The tale took place sometime in the middle part of the 1900s in this county, and it involves a couple from Minot who was traveling to Bottineau to spend time with family during the holidays.

The couple left Minot late in the day on Christmas Eve, and while on their way to Bottineau a blizzard came up quickly, which brought visibility on Highway 5 down to zero.

As the couple struggled to stay on the road they caught a glimpse of a faint light.  Looking closer, the couple discovered they were driving by a farmstead. They quickly turned into the farm and drove up to a small house with lights shining through the windows.

The couple got out of their car and knocked at the door, which opened up to them with an elderly man standing before them. The farmer encouraged the couple to come in, and as the man and his wife walked into the home they were greeted with a warm house, a kitchen table covered with food and a Christmas tree brightly lit within the corner of the room.

The elderly man invited them to have dinner with him, and then, provided them with a bed for the evening. The next day, the couple awoke to a sun filled sky. With clear weather and the highway good enough to drive on, the couple said thank you to the man who provided them with shelter, food and a bed and then went on their way to Bottineau where they had Christmas dinner with their family.

During the dinner, the couple told their family about the evening they had with the elderly man. As they told their experience, silence grew around the table; and, with the quietness, the couple asked what was wrong.

Their family told them the farm they were talking about didn’t have anybody living there. The couple looked back at their family, shrugged their shoulders, and told them they had to be wrong because someone was there the evening before and had taken very good care of them. A disagreement broke out, and after a time the couple stated the best way to solve the argument was to go back out to the farmhouse and met the man.

That afternoon, all the family members got into their vehicles and followed the couple back to the farmstead. When the couple arrived at the farm, they found themselves dumbfounded because the house looked as though it had been abandoned years ago. The family went up to the home and knocked on the door and found no answer. So, they let themselves into the home where they found a cold, dark house left with ages of dirt and dust collecting all around them.

The couple and their family never came to a clear understanding as to what happened that Christmas Eve night. As the story spread throughout the county, some local folks thought the elderly man was an angel and that a miracle had taken place that night. Others thought the couple became disorientated in the blizzard and couldn’t correctly find the farm again, while others felt that someone had just made up the story.

No matter what one thinks about this story, it is a great Christmas story, especially in this day and age where so many individuals have forgotten the true meaning of Christmas.  

This year, as the holidays came, I have seen and heard about people scheming, outwitting and even beating people, all in the name of the Christmas Spirit!

As for the true meaning of Christmas, the birth of the baby Jesus to bring peace and salvation to a world that was lost, has become a faint light in a window during a snow storm to many in our nation.

However, if the faint light the couple saw in the snowstorm is searched out and found it can lead individuals to a bright home which holds the warmth of salvation, love and security – the true meaning of Christmas.  

For me, I believe the story of the couple and the farmer is true and that an angle of God did appear to help the couple that evening. And, this story shows that the true meaning of Christmas took place that holiday season; which for us in the world today, hopefully, will come back to our nation.