The truth about Christmas

Christmas.  It's one of the busiest times of the year. With all the caroling, Christmas pageants, buying gifts and getting the Christmas cards out, it can be a bit hectic. It's challenging, but if we try, we can focus on the true meaning of Christmas that began over 2000 years ago.

It wasn't about Santa Claus and lighting trees with colored lights. There was nothing about making lists and checking them twice like it is today.  Don't get me wrong, I don't these things are wrong and I've done all of them all my life. But that not what Christmas is really about. 

It started with God's gift to us in order that we could spend eternity with Him. He came to earth as baby and a few decades later would be a sacrifice to forgive us for all we've ever done wrong. That's how much God loves us. 

 

One thing that helps point me back to a good perspective of Christmas is listening to music that exalts Christ and his birth.  Right now I'm listening to music from the annual concert put on my the Azusa Pacific University choir.  A marvelous performance of Christmas music that's presented each year.  Hearing the music reminds me how it all started more than two centuries ago.  This, in addition to attending a Christmas Eve service at Fellowship Greenville, help me focus on the true meaning of Christmas.   

Your turn. How do you keep the real meaning of Christmas at the forefront of your mind in this season?

Get Moving!

The cold weather had arrived early. It was only October and we’d already had our first frost. I wore three layers, but still shivered as I sat at my desk. It was approaching noon, so I got up to fix lunch. I transferred the first load of laundry from the washer to the dryer and started the second load. As I did, I realized  I wasn’t cold anymore. Maybe because I’d been moving. 

 

“See any parallel here Ellen?” God asked. I smiled, recognizing how it mirrored my spiritual life, and doing what God had told me to. He’d told me to sit down and write. Write a devotion, work on my nonfiction work, or at least work on some writing exercises.  I’d been procrastinating by doing anything but that. I’d wash the dishes, vacuum the house, play a computer game. You get the idea. I’d done the same thing when it came to spending time with God in prayer or reading His Word. I’d suddenly have other things I suddenly “had to do.”

I’d fallen into Satan’s trap of distraction. Satan’s tricky that way. We tend to fall for Satan’s deception because he’s so crafty. None of the things I did was sinful, or bad in itself, but it was a waste of time and kept me from doing what God wanted.

We often do things that fill our time and they’re good, productive things. It makes us feel good about having accomplished them. But we need to focus on what God wants us to do. Each day we need to ask Him to help us hear His voice and to follow through with doing as He leads. When we do, we’re more productive and we feel better for not having wasted our time. More importantly, we’re obedient to God’s direction. All because we got moving.

Grabbing Hold of What's in Front of Us.

It's the first thing I see every morning. It demands my attention and care and I'm happy to give it. I know that it'll flourish if I do. But it'll droop, and eventually die, if I neglect it.

I have a very needy plant on my front porch. It's a very thirsty little fella so I need to water it daily. I love the way it looks, so I take care to give it what it needs to grow to thrive.







 million bells

Because it's always there, it'd be easy to take its beauty for granted. The same is true of God and the gifts He gives us. 

"If you ignore beauty, you will soon find yourself without it. But if you invest in beauty, it will remain with you all the days of your life."--Frank Lloyd Wright.

Like the million bells above, God is always there, and is easy to take Him for granted.  But, like the plant above, our relationship with Him needs our attention. It has to be nourished if it is to grow and thrive. I struggle to prioritize spending time with Him. But I know it makes a difference.

How about you? What do you have difficulty putting at the top of your priority list? Don't forget to join the conversation.









The Importance of Focus

Oftentimes, there's so much going on in our lives, it's easy to become overwhelmed.  Or focused on the negative things in life.  God convicted me of this a while ago through a letter.  To remember what He said, I wrote it in a devotion.

 The Importance of Focus

Friends, don't get me wrong: By no means do I count myself an expert in all of this, but I've got my eye on the goal, where God is beckoning us onward—to Jesus. I'm off and running, and I'm not turning back. (Phil. 3:13-14 The Message)

I opened a quarterly e-mail today from my investment company. The first line really caught my attention, not because of its content, but rather its significance.

Don't let this 90-day report affect your long-term goals

“The first thing you'll look for when you open your quarterly statements is whether your investments are up or down. If you find a significant change in the value of your investments, it's going to mess with your head.”

I stopped right there. Wow! What a thought. How many times did I do that with other things in my life? The long commute to work, frequent interruptions, laundry that still hasn’t been done. Any of these can get me worked up. ‘

When I focus on those, they can mess with my head too. And inevitably I fail to notice the blessings God has given me—waking up in a comfortable home, having enough food to eat, and having family and friends who love me.

It’s not just the little things that can do that to us though. Occasionally life throws some real curve balls at us. It’s only natural, normal, and legitimate to become upset or worried. Some might wonder whether we were in touch with reality if we didn’t. Issues like serious health problems, threats of foreclosure, or never-ending family conflicts are significant problems. Surely we aren’t supposed to just ignore all this, are we? Of course not.

Paul lived through some horrendous experiences—shipwrecks, floggings, hunger and thirst for days on end. Yet, he persevered in his faith and service to God. So how did he do it? What was his secret? 

My guess is that it was his focus. Despite his circumstances, he kept his eye on what God had called him to, remembering what God had done for him in the past.

Yet, it’s so easy to forget all those things as we go about our days. Maybe we don’t actually forget. We just push them to the back of our minds as life happens. Perhaps that’s why it’s so important to keep going back to God throughout the day, so He can remind us of Who He is, and that He’s faithful to care for us as His children.