Happy Friday!
Christmas is right around the corner – ready or not!! And if you’re like me – it’s more like NOT!!
Why is it that we have an entire year to get ready for Christmas, but the biggest shopping day of the year is Christmas Eve? When did $50 off of a new tv become more important than someone’s life? Why do we stress out at the last minute to get decorations up, gifts purchased and wrapped? I’ve barely gotten my tree up – but then I had to rearrange my entire house as an excuse! But then, don’t we all have an ‘excuse’? It would make so much more sense to shop throughout the year, pick up things for those special people and wrap them, and then put them away for Christmas. Then we wouldn’t have to be rushing around with everyone else at the malls in a panic! I say I’m going to do this every year – but never do!
Jesus is coming – just like Christmas is coming. We have our entire lives to get ready for him. Throughout our lives, we can grow stronger in our faith and honor God every day of our lives. The average life span in America is 67 years – that means you have about 24,455 days to thank God for. But even still, we tend to wait until the last minute. We wait until Sunday to worship, we wait until Wednesday night to fellowship, we wait until funerals to thank God for the life of those we lost. We help the needy at Christmas through Angel Tree, Shoeboxes and donations – but Jesus said these people are always there and are always needy. At Thanksgiving, we talk about how thankful that we are to have a roof over our heads, food on our tables, and a family that loves us – but they are there all of the other 364 days of the year, too. Why do we wait until that ‘last minute’ to express it?
The day that Jesus comes isn’t marked on the calendar like Christmas. We have thousands of days – thousands upon thousands of opportunities – to thank, praise, worship, and honor God. Every day we have the chance to make a difference in someone’s life – with a smile, holding a door, sharing God’s word. God doesn’t want us to wait until the ‘last minute’ and try to get everything in under the wire – He wants us to make the most of every day that we have – as if when you close your eyes for sleep each night – that is your ‘last minute’.
This next year, make a resolution to make the most of every day. As you get your family ready for bed, and say prayers – make a habit of asking ‘What did you do today to make God smile?’ And share things that you’ve each done that day. It might be something as simple as ‘I let someone out in front of me in traffic’ and it might be as profound as ‘I shared God with someone new’. It might even be ‘I had a horrible day – and I need to pray about it now!’ It‘ll be tough at first, but it will create an awareness, and if you know you’re going to have to ‘answer for it’ at bedtime, it will make you (and your family) more intentional about serving God every day.
Christmas is right around the corner – ready or not!! And if you’re like me – it’s more like NOT!!
Why is it that we have an entire year to get ready for Christmas, but the biggest shopping day of the year is Christmas Eve? When did $50 off of a new tv become more important than someone’s life? Why do we stress out at the last minute to get decorations up, gifts purchased and wrapped? I’ve barely gotten my tree up – but then I had to rearrange my entire house as an excuse! But then, don’t we all have an ‘excuse’? It would make so much more sense to shop throughout the year, pick up things for those special people and wrap them, and then put them away for Christmas. Then we wouldn’t have to be rushing around with everyone else at the malls in a panic! I say I’m going to do this every year – but never do!
Jesus is coming – just like Christmas is coming. We have our entire lives to get ready for him. Throughout our lives, we can grow stronger in our faith and honor God every day of our lives. The average life span in America is 67 years – that means you have about 24,455 days to thank God for. But even still, we tend to wait until the last minute. We wait until Sunday to worship, we wait until Wednesday night to fellowship, we wait until funerals to thank God for the life of those we lost. We help the needy at Christmas through Angel Tree, Shoeboxes and donations – but Jesus said these people are always there and are always needy. At Thanksgiving, we talk about how thankful that we are to have a roof over our heads, food on our tables, and a family that loves us – but they are there all of the other 364 days of the year, too. Why do we wait until that ‘last minute’ to express it?
The day that Jesus comes isn’t marked on the calendar like Christmas. We have thousands of days – thousands upon thousands of opportunities – to thank, praise, worship, and honor God. Every day we have the chance to make a difference in someone’s life – with a smile, holding a door, sharing God’s word. God doesn’t want us to wait until the ‘last minute’ and try to get everything in under the wire – He wants us to make the most of every day that we have – as if when you close your eyes for sleep each night – that is your ‘last minute’.
This next year, make a resolution to make the most of every day. As you get your family ready for bed, and say prayers – make a habit of asking ‘What did you do today to make God smile?’ And share things that you’ve each done that day. It might be something as simple as ‘I let someone out in front of me in traffic’ and it might be as profound as ‘I shared God with someone new’. It might even be ‘I had a horrible day – and I need to pray about it now!’ It‘ll be tough at first, but it will create an awareness, and if you know you’re going to have to ‘answer for it’ at bedtime, it will make you (and your family) more intentional about serving God every day.
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