Father, draw me close. I need You, for I, in myself, am not sufficient. I cast myself on You and Your wildly flowing mercy to guide and direct my thoughts and actions this day and every day. Amen.
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Last week, I saw this sight on the side of the road on my bus route. As you can see, it is a discarded Christmas tree, the colorful tinsel still strung amongst its branches. I don’t know if it belonged to the residents in the vicinity or if it was unceremoniously dropped (or fell) off onto the berm of a country byway.
As a result of my many years in retail, I’ve become more sensitive about all the hype building and building up until Christmas, and then abruptly, come December 26th, it’s done, and everything is back to “normal.”
Looking at the tree, it had served its “purpose,” and it was disposed of as soon as it was convenient.
How is Christmas with you? As believers, it can be a challenge to pack Christmas away for another year and stick it up in the attics of our minds. Or worse yet, to not hang onto much of it at all…disposing of what just didn’t seem to work for us. Our thoughts go out into the future, where we plan on picking something up again the next holiday season with the hope of it making a difference in our lives. We struggle, thinking that Christmas is just not what it used to be…and we are left empty and alone…at a loss for hope.
But, truth be told, Christmas is just the beginning.
My sermon series this year was taken from Alistair Begg’s Christmas Playlist: Four Songs that Bring You to the Heart of Christmas. Here’s a quote from one of the last sermons.
…this is why the wooden food trough led to the wooden cross, and why you will never get to the heart of Christmas if you don’t grasp the meaning of Easter. Christianity is not good advice about what we should do. It is the good news of what Christ has done. Christianity does not proclaim that you are worth saving or able to save yourself. It announces that God is mighty to save.
I found a Christmas song by Matthew West – The Hope of Christmas. Its words point us in the right direction. (Lyrics and video are included.)
Take me back to eight years old
The little church on a dead end road
With a candle flicker in one hand and dad’s hand in the other
Take me back to Silent Night
My heart was full and the world was right
Cuz right now the world looks nothing like those innocent Decembers
These days peace on earth is hard to find
And I need you to remind me one more time
You’re still the hope of Christmas
You’re still the light when the world looks dark
You’re still the hope of Christmas
And You’re still the hope of my heart
Watch the snowflakes falling down
Like a blanket on this town
For a moment we can hardly see the pain this year has brought us
May the sick find healing’s touch
May hatred’s fight be won with love
And may every heart make room for you the One who came to save us
I bowed my head to pray tonight
Felt my little girl by my side
She slipped her tiny hand in mine
And we both talked to you
And it took me back to 8 years old
my daddy’s hand and a story told
About Heaven’s love in a manger low
And a promise that’s still true
Jan 8th, 2024, Mon, 6:22 pm
