Sunday, January 9, 2011

Putting It Away or Keeping it Out?

Well I finally got all my Christmas decorations down YESTERDAY. I am the last to get them up and the last to get them down. I still can't remember where I hid all my normal stuff that decorates my house the rest of the year and it looks so empty and plain. Baby girl said,"Momma the house looks sad."  I think it is sad. It has been so full of lights and nativities and spirit. Now all that is put away until next season.

This morning I am looking around at all the empty spots and wondering, Is this how we are too after Christmas? So full of Christmas joy, and all the stuff that goes with it during the season but then we pack it up until next season? Christmas has a way of making us look at the needs of others like no other time of year does. You know,  Peace on earth, goodwill to men. And we feel good about ourselves when we do it. Like we have checked something off our Christian to-do list and won't He be proud of us? Probably so except for the pride that accompanies it. Now don't get me wrong - I am not saying this is true of all people, I am speaking (or in this case- writing) rhetorically.

Somehow after the Christmas season has passed we tend to get all geared up for the New routines we have vowed to make for the New year and sooner rather than later for many of us, we slip back into the old. Old habits, old thought processes. We celebrate our Savior's birth at Christmas and celebrate with abandon. Do we live out the rest of the year in abandon to Him, or do we put Him away until the next season is upon us? God didn't send His son so we would have reason to celebrate at a certain time of year.

"I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly." John 10:10 (KJV)


ALL YEAR LONG!!!! Not just at certain times of the year. So, how do we keep ourselves filled with that "CHRISTmas spirit" all year? For me it is to make a decision to get in His word and be filled daily with what is bread and life to us. To share His love with others DAILY not just at certain times of the year. That is the Spirit I want all year long.

What about you? How do you keep that joy from Christmas an everyday habit not just a once a year habit?

Michelle

3 comments:

  1. What a great post. I still have my Christmas up and have to take it down. I'm going to let you know that you are NOT the last to take it down :-)

    Discipline. Prayer. Praise. Turning to Him for strength and asking the Holy Spirit to fill me daily with the ability to see others as He sees them. That is how I plan to keep my Christmas joy. You know it took me a while to get it this year - I really don't want to lose it!

    Enjoy your snow! I'm waiting for mine until tonight :-)

    Love you!
    Maurya

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  2. This is Debbie in Wisconsin...and it is not snowing here, lol! My Christmas tree is still up, along with my Nativity scenes, but I put away the Santa stuff a couple of weeks ago. I'm reading the One Year Chronological Bible for the second time, and I love it. It's so cool to read the same thing and get a different take on it. Living and active, right? Thanks for following, Michelle! I appreciate it! (Getting back to the Packer game now...)

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  3. That's the sprit I want all year long too. And with prayer, daily devotion, and obiedence that spirit ought to radiate from us:) I'm also thankful that I have a sweet mother-in- law who I feel I can always go to for Godly advice:)

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