CHRISTmas

 I have to admit I struggle with the holidays.  I love seeing my nieces and nephew and hanging out with my brother and sister’s families, but I still struggle.  It seems that no matter how happy everybody seems opening presents and eating dinner, there’s always a let down. A present we didn’t get or not enough of our favorite dessert.  I always feel a little bit like Charlie Brown, “I just don’t understand Christmas I guess. I like getting presents and sending Christmas cards and decorating trees and all that, but I’m still not happy. I always end up feeling depressed.”

As a kid, Christmas was all about presents.  Mom and dad always had us make a list of the toys and other things we wanted for Christmas.  I would get so excited because I imagined all the wonderful presents I would get, but I was always disappointed.  I could get all the presents on my list, but I felt like there was still something missing.

 As I got older and started earning my own money, I got really excited about buying presents for other people.  I would work very hard to find the perfect gift for everyone, but it became harder and harder each year to fill the bill.  I became more disillusioned one year when the gift I had bought for my niece was in the trash before Christmas the next year.  

Last year, I desperately wanted to do something different, to give everyone a truly meaningful gift that would never get old, go out of style or spoil. A couple of days after we got home from celebrating Christmas, my brother sent me a picture of the present I had gotten MaKayla, showing that it was being put to good use.  I felt pretty good until I realized that all of the things I bought will eventually outlive their usefulness.  Clothes and toys will be outgrown.  Gift cards will expire.  Books will be read and put on a shelf.  Picture frames will be stuck in a drawer.  Candles will lose their wax.  Yet, every year we buy all new toys, clothes, books, candles, and picture frames hoping to please our family and friends.  We often forget that there’s one gift that will never spoil or expire, and it cost us absolutely nothing.

  And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.

For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.

And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.

And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying,

Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.

Luke 2:10-14

Through the birth and ultimate death of His one and only Son, God reconciled all of mankind to himself.  Our eternity and salvation is secure. We have been set free from our chains of sin.  Christ lived our perfect life, died our death and rose again to take his place at the right hand of God the Father. Through Christ, we are adopted as sons and daughters of the King, we are heirs to the throne of righteousness.  This the best gift we could have ever asked for, and it is ours forever more.  There is nothing here on earth that can measure up to this amazing gift purchased with Christ’s blood.  

So, buy your candles and gift cards; your toys and clothes, but make sure to remember that Christ is the reason for your celebration this Christmas. Without Him, we would have no cause to rejoice.  

Charitable Judgments

I pulled out in front of someone as I was leaving the grocery store on Monday.  As I drove home, I pondered what that person must have been thinking as they had to slow down to avoid a collision.  I know what I would be thinking..."Crazy driver.  Must be in a real hurry.  Obviously doesn't care about anybody else. She should get those ear phones out of her ears."   It was then it occurred to me, that none of those things are really true (okay, maybe the earphones).  I'm not a crazy driver.  I wasn't in a huge hurry and I really do care about other drivers; if there was a way I could have apologized, I would have.  It was a matter of not being able to see past some parked cars.  As I started to pull out, I was already too far in the intersection to just stop, that would've caused a bigger problem.  The problem is, when we've been inconvenienced, we tend to think the worst of the other person.  I know I do.

It happens anytime I'm driving in the dark.  I will have my brights on, and so will the driver coming towards me.  I turn mine off, they don't.  I judge..."Nice of them to blind me.  They obviously don't care about how their brights affect me.  How would they feel if I left my brights on?!"  Then, the inevitable happens, I forget to flip off my brights.  God humbled me.  I didn't do it on purpose. I wasn't trying to hurt the other person. My mind just wandered off with the music or thoughts about work.  There was no malice intended. I pray the other driver isn't as judgmental of me as I was of the first driver.

It happens at work, and at home.  I judge others based on my own (overly high) view of myself.  I believe myself to be infallible, and I hold others to the same standard. If I have dinner ready when you get home from work, I expect the same treatment when I get home from work late.  I get very unhappy when I come home on a Friday night and find the house empty and have to go back out for my own supper after I had cooked for them earlier in the week.  I mean, the could have at least let me know they weren't going to be home so I could have stopped before I got home.  I don't consider all the other things that have influenced them not being home or communicating with me.   I forget that I could have called before I left work. Communication is a two-way street.  It's just easier to put the responsibility on the other party.

God is continuing to grow me in this area. Every time I make an uncharitable judgment, I am immediately humbled.  God brings to mind an instant when I behaved the exact same way that I am judging the other person for.  He reminds me of my sinfulness, not to condemn me or to make me feel bad about myself, that's Satan's job.  He reminds me of my sinfulness to humble me, to be able to see myself more clearly so that I can judge the situation for how it really is, not just by how I was affected.  He forces me to consider the other person as I would want to be considered in the same situation.  Praise the Lord!