It's coming


            The turkey has been reduced to leftovers, the extended family has made their way back to their own dwelling and Thanksgiving Day is behind us once again. That means I can play my Christmas music without shame (been playing it since August) and I have begun the process of decorating my home. Even though my life has not been going the way I’d like it to go this year, the advent season puts a spring in my step and a smile on my face. Yet, every which way I turn; I am greeted with sounds of disgust regarding the approach of Christmas from non-believer and believer alike.

            This state of affairs truly demonstrates how easily we can miss the joy of Christianity as it gets camouflaged by worldly objects and concerns. Focus on the nativity rather than the native shopper. Let the light of the star over Bethlehem be in your heart and mind rather than the flashing light of the cash register ringing up purchases. When the hustle and bustle seek to destroy your peace, find a quiet place and contemplate the verses of Luke chapter 2 or Silent Night. Remember, Jesus is the reason for the season and keep Christ in Christmas. (I know it’s cliché but it works.) Take yourself back to a childhood memory, perhaps performing in your first kids Christmas program?

            The next time someone bah humbugs your holiday spirit, send up a prayer for that person, smile and remind them that they are blessed and loved. As I write this, I am sitting in my living room by the colored lights of my tree and a few candles burning, Christmas music playing softly. I can think of no other place I’d rather be or state of mind I’d rather be in. Christmas really is my favorite time of year. Even though, outside this room outside this moment, my life is not going as I’d like it to, I know I am loved and that love came to earth in the form of a baby wrapped in swaddling clothes. God so good!

            “Glory to God in the highest and peace on earth good will towards men.” Luke 2:14
Posted by

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

How are you?

Image
            When I wake, one of the first things I do is say, “Good morning God!” Some days are more enthusiastic than others. When I greet another human being, I usually follow that greeting with, “how are you?” This morning it occurred to me that I don’t ask God how he is. I have been contemplating this idea, how are you God? Obviously, given his attributes of omnipotence, omnipresence and omniscience it is easy to follow the train of thought that he has everything in check. Despite that; I think of him in human terms and I can’t help but feel he is; not mad but disappointed (cringe). When he looks at creation, like a parent gazing on the wreckage of a kid’s toy room, wouldn’t there be disappointment?             As I contemplated that, my meandering mind led me to consider guilt. The guilt that leads to the disappointment of others. Every culture I have known lays claim to guilt; Lutheran guilt, Catholic guilt, Jewish guilt, Italian guilt and so on. Truth be told, we’re all guil
Read more

Out of the Mouth

Image
  Genesis 3:14 “God said to Moses, ‘I AM who I AM.’ This is what you are to say to the Israelites: “I Am has sent me to you.”             I feel the need to make a disclaimer statement up front as I can see what I will write in these next few sentences could be misconstrued. This writing is not claiming that man is God although I will say, that if you have claimed the Holy Spirit lives in you, that identifies that God is in you too.             How many times a day do you use the phrase “I am…”? Probably much more than you or I realize. This is how God identified Himself to Moses. “I AM who I AM” We often refer to God as the great I AM, which He is. Going back to how often we use the phrase, for myself those two words are often followed with denigrating words like; so stupid, so foolish, so dumb, so angry, so hurt, so fill in the blank. What if each time we thought about those two words and how we identify ourselves we replaced “I AM” with “God is” most of us (I make this assumptio
Read more

Masterpiece

Image
              As a young person, I was fond of painting, not great at it but reasonable. I set it aside when I fell in love and got married. In these days of isolation I needed to find some other ways to occupy myself other than baking and decided to get back to my paint brushes.   To get used to handling the brushes again I got myself a paint by number,             If you have never tried one of these let me give you a little insight. You receive a canvas with an image divided up into numbered areas and little pots of paint with corresponding numbers. Then you begin a sort of scavenger hunt trying to fill in all the spots of a particular number. Sounds simple enough, however some of these areas are so tiny they are easily overlooked. The tiny spots are important though, they give that little flourish that can draw the eye or round out an object.             Why do I tell you about this? As I dove into this project, a great life analogy was revealed to me and I do love a good word
Read more