What will occupy you most this Christmas season: burdens or Joys?
What a profound question! I wish that it was original but it is not. In one of my advent type books that my heart friend Leigh gave four Christmas ago, this question leaped off the page. It comes from the book, How Great Our Joy ~ Family Memories & Meditations for Christmas, page 9.
How will yours and my Christmas be different this year? Will we succumb to the world's vision of Christmas? Or will we ask the Lord Jesus to renew us in our hearts, minds and yes pocketbooks this year?
Each year is new as each day is fresh and new. So whatever, we may have encountered in our past Christmas celebrations, we can start fresh right now, this very moment. We do not have to allow the enemy to paralyze us or to entrap us. Take time to read in Romans 8 about how we are positionally in Christ. Yet we forget how important the phrase, "In," becomes when placed next to Christ.
I do not want to allow the busyness of Christmas to so overtake me that I truly miss what Christmas is all about. Do not allow any spiritual pride to well up inside of you that you think, "oh that will not happen to me." That is pure arrogance because I believe with all my heart and being that this particular time of the year, the enemy and his legions of demons work overtime to distract, to disturb, to discourage and to detour believers in Christ. What we can do is to deliberately prepare ourselves for this battle and yes, it is a battle.
There are several ways, our family prepares our hearts for this time of the year. Early, we begin by placing our Christmas books in baskets throughout our home. Christine has many Christmas books which we have purchased over the years. In fact, each year, we buy one or two to add to her collection. In her room, we place them in a large basket and each night we read one to her. Sometimes, we read them during the day as well. It is something she looks forward to each year.
For Rob and myself, we place our books that deal especially with the Advent themes and have them readily available so as to draw our attention to the Savior. Each year, I take a particular book and read through it each day during the month of December. So as not to allow the list of these books to be overlooked within this text, I will list them in another posting. Some of still in print while some are not.
Just recently, I found one at the Family Christian Bookstore entitled, "The Experience of Christmas - Family Devotions and Activities to Prepare the Heart." It is by Lee Warren and cost $3.97. You can find it in the Bargain Section. This book is geared for family devotional times during the Christmas season. There are some that have that focus while there are some that can be used for personal reflection and meditation. As to what book the Lord will have me use this year, I do not know. It would be easy to use what I have used in the past. And God very well might direct me that way. However, I do not want to allow myself to be in a rut and not be able to see and know what God wants me to learn this Advent season.
Of course, we decorate our home and our trees. Yes, trees. Christine has a tree in her room with "Adornaments," on it. We have other small trees throughout the house. One thing we did when Rob was pastoring. We had a Christmas Open House. We placed a table top Christmas tree near the front foyer. As folks dropped in, they wrote on cards blessings that had experienced during the year and placed them on our "Blessing Tree." It is fun to read those cards now because some of the folks have gone on to Heaven. What a treasure we have in Christ and in those memories.
In one of the family magazines from LifeWay, there was a suggestion as to how to utilize Christmas Cards. One family placed them in their "Prayer Box." After Christmas they prayed for the families they had received Christmas cards from. We have done something similar.
Last year, one of the neatest blessings came when we had another family over for Christmas evening. After the meal, we gathered around the piano and sang Christmas Carols. I encourage all families to find a Christmas Carol songbook or a hymnals so as to be able to sing these wonderful songs together or even individually. What a wonderful addition to your personal time with the Lord. Your Bible, journal, prayer list and hymnal.
Tonight, we began listening to Christmas CDs in our car. We take out our regular CDs that we keep in the car and replace them with Christmas ones. Thereby, having a myriad of songs to listen to and sing along with. This too keeps us more focused.
Some years, we did not have a lot of money to buy presents so we sent out several Christmas cards. In our culture, it seems that some years, Christmas cards are not sent out as much. Perhaps with computer cards and sometimes our culture becoming more impersonal, this is diminishing. The reasons are many but one I do believe is that we allow ourselves to be "TOO BUSY."
My challenge to each of us is not to allow "Christ" to be squeezed out of Christmas. That we Christmas season would be joyous and not burdensome. It will not happen by chance or by osmosis. It will happen when we deliberately and intentionally seek the Holy Spirit to harness our hearts, minds, and eyes whereby seeing only JESUS!
Determine to prepare your heart for Christ. Even if it means doing less or not attending too many Christmas parties. The old adage, "less is best," is true. Do not let others hear your whine during the Christmas season. Oftentimes, when we whining, we are over scheduled and overbooked thus making it virtually impossible to do what we had initially set out. Ouch! Tis true and you what I'm talking about.
Let this be our motto this Christmas, "You will guard him and keep in in perfect and constant peace whose mind [both its inclination and its character] is stayed on You, because he commits himself to You, leans on You, and hopes confidently in You. So trust in the Lord (commit yourself to Him, lean on Him, hope confidently in Him) forever; for the Lord God is an everlasting Rock [the Rock of Ages]. Isaiah 26:3-4 (Amplified Bible)
Joy to the World! Let Every Heart Prepare Him Room!
Jesus is God's Gift to the World!
