The most wonderful time of the year

There is a song which is heard repeatedly throughout the month of December which proclaims Christmas as “the most wonderful day of the year.” I was thinking about the implications of that message for our world today.

I know it not just the words of the song that is the motivating factor, but I know several families who seem to pick up that message. They are basically “religiously neutral” throughout the year, but make a point to always “go to the Christmas service” at their church. I’m not saying it is a bad thing that they attend their church, but what makes this one time special? Why suddenly do they slip out of neutral and into drive, get a little traction and suddenly feel the need to “go to church”?

I do understand that in many churches there is a bit of pageantry that surrounds Christmas. They make it special with choral programs, plays, special decorations and special services directed towards the celebration of Christmas. I’m reminded of a story about a man complaining about the church service they had been to. His young son piped up, “I thought it was a pretty good show for a dollar!”

What occurs to me is that to many people it is more about the show, the pageantry if you will, than it is about the one they are supposed to be remembering. I understand the implications of the virgin birth of our Savior. I understand that without the story about that miraculous birth recorded in the scripture; we would miss out of something wonderful. What I don’t understand is why much of the world chooses to just remember the Savior only this one time per year. Why are so many people “religiously neutral” for the rest of the year?

I have to believe that it is because God and religion are really not that important to them. For many it’s like putting on a cross as a piece of jewelry, they think of it as a talisman. They think that it will somehow protect them from bad things happening in their lives. Some reason that if they “go to church,” it will let God know they think of him “this most wonderful day of the year,” yet for some it’s just a good show.

Personally, I love the holiday season. I love the music, I love the decorations, I love the way that many people become more loving and giving, I love that many become more aware of Christ and his miraculous birth. The question is why only in December? Why only one day of the year and then slip back into neutral?

Do you remember what the greatest commandment is? Jesus tells us in Matthew 22:36-38. He is asked, “Teacher, which is the most important commandment in the law of Moses?" Jesus replied, "'You must love the LORD your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment.”

If you only showed love to your wife, your husband or you children one time a year, do you think they would really believe you loved them? Ask yourself what your relationship to God is telling him.

Life without an eraser

Have you ever messed up and then wished there were some way to make the mistake go away. You

just can’t, can you. Some wise person once said, “Life is like drawing without an eraser,” once the line is down, there is nothing you can do to make it go away. It’s like drawing with a permanent marker. You can paint over it to cover it up, but often it bleeds through the paint to be seen by all.

At times life can be difficult or perhaps challenging to say the least. Lately I have often repeated the old saying, “We live in interesting times,” referring to all of the changes our country is going through. How do we deal with “interesting times,” or challenging times? I like the saying I read recently that said, “sometimes the most difficult lesson in life to learn is: Which branch to climb and which one to break off.” That is tough isn’t it? That’s life without an eraser.

What happens to our lives, how do they change so drastically or go in a direction we had not planned? Not everyone starts out in the best household, the best home situation, but some do and something happens and their lives are turned upside down. Mary LoVerde wrote a book that addresses this titled, “I used to have a handle on life, but it broke.” I’ve had that handle break a few times myself, so I can relate to this, and maybe you have too, so how do we deal with this?

First of all we can’t plan long range and expect it to always go smoothly or the way we had envisioned.

James reminds us in James 4:13-14, “Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit,” yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes.”

Let me say though that this doesn’t mean we shouldn’t plan for the future. A life without visions for our future, without plans is no life at all. I honestly believe that God expects us to think or plan, there is just too much in the scripture about thinking about our future, about how we can serve God, about our eternal future to miss this point. However anyone who thinks it is going to be smooth sailing or that our plans will always come into fruition doesn’t have a true grip on reality.

Well, what should we do then? Well, James adds another verse to the thought above that is important to our plans. He adds in James 4:15, “Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.”

So, when we are planning, we are praying! We need to factor into our plans God and his will. We plan and say, “This is what I intend to do if it is God’s will”. In my life I generally practice the “open door plan”. I try something, stretch towards some plan and if it works out and God opens that door, great, if not, if the door stays shut, that’s great too. You see; then you just change directions and try something else. You see the truth is that we can live our life with out an eraser, because we don’t have to stay between any man made lines. The only lines that are important are the ones that God tells us to stay in side of in his Book. So, how are you doing?

Letting Go

They tell us that the Christmas season is one of the most stressful times of the year. We like to think of it as one big party, but for many it is not. It is a time that puts more emphasis upon relationships and we remember more deeply lost loved ones, children and family separated by miles or sometimes hurt or anger. For far too may rather than being a time of celebration it is a time of regret.

I love the story a preacher told about his grandfather. It seems that there was a terrible thunderstorm that swept through Southern Kentucky at the farm where his family had lived for six generations. In the orchard the wind blew over an old pear tree that had been there as long as anyone could remember. His grandfather was saddened to lose the tree in which he had climbed and played as a boy. He had eaten it’s fruit all of his life and enjoyed its beauty.

A neighbor came by and said, “I’m really sorry to see your pear tree blown down.” “I’m sorry too,” said the old man. “It was a real part of my past.” “Well what are you going to do now,” the neighbor asked? The old man paused for a moment and then said, “I’m going to pick the fruit and burn what is left.”

Don’t you wish you could handing difficult times with that determination? There are so many things in our past that we cling to which maybe should be letting go. We need to learn the lesson that old man knew. We need to enjoy the pleasures of those memories then go on with the present as well as the future. If you can’t, you will always be handicapped in dealing with both the present and the future.

Jesus put it this way in Luke 9:57-62, “As they were walking along, someone said to Jesus, "I will follow You wherever You go." But Jesus replied, "Foxes have dens to live in, and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place even to lay His head." He said to another person, "Come, follow Me." The man agreed, but he said, "Lord, first let me return home and bury my father." But Jesus told him, "Let the spiritually dead bury their own dead! Your duty is to go and preach about the Kingdom of God." Another said, "Yes, Lord, I will follow You, but first let me say good-bye to my family." But Jesus told him, "Anyone who puts a hand to the plow and then looks back is not fit for the Kingdom of God."

Could it be that you need to let go? I’m not saying to forget, but to enjoy the memories and then move on to enjoy the present and the future.