The Holidays

 It is fascinating to me that the word holiday literally comes from the idea of holy days.  And yet there is almost nothing holy about what happens when we get to this time of year.  After Halloween (anything but holy) we push toward not Thanksgiving as much as Black Friday.  I know this because we have Black Friday deals that are already starting.  We push right past Thanksgiving and start thinking about shopping for Christmas - you know, the part of the celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ that is about making sure you are spending as much money as you can afford to buy presents because your family needs to know that you love them and you have to have a good enough Christmas card to send out for the next year - the kind that you can brag about all the things you did during the year.  Sounds great doesn't it.  Seems like the holy day has become not so holy.  A group of singing angels announcing the Savior's birth to lowly shepherds has been replaced.  A quiet birth of a Savior has given way to a bustle of human capitalistic activity.  The salvation of mankind has quietly taken a back seat to anything and everything else.  

Sad if you think about it.

Maybe we should make these days holy again.  We can do this by focusing ourselves - to think about Jesus more than we think about all of the other stuff.  To intentionally slow down and remember what Christ has done for us.  To humbly consider the humility with which the Creator of the Universe came to earth.  To pause to reflect on the Prince of Peace.  To go a few moments striving not to google or go shopping, but instead to glory in the God of all that is giving Himself for us.  I think it would be worth our time.  I think it would be worth our worship.  I think it would be helpful to make these days holy.  

Thanksgiving in Hard Times

 "The Lord's lovingkindnesses indeed never cease, for His compassions never fail. . ."  (Lamentations 3:22)

This verse comes in the midst of a book literally named after the idea of crying out to God.  Jeremiah the prophet had a lot to lament - the people God had called him to proclaim the Word of God to were not listening.  They were moving faster and faster toward judgment.  There was not a lot to give thanks for.  He had been imprisoned.  He had been left up to his armpits in mud to die.  And he did not have a lot to show for a lifetime of faithful service to God.  All he had was people who did not like him very much. A lot of complaints and not a few death threats.  

But there is always one thing that we have.  It is something that we can count on no matter what.  No matter how many things happen or what we are going through, this is a truth that we can not only rely on - but give thanks for because it is true.  I want us to think about it.

God's covenant faithfulness does not cease.  And His love toward us does not fail.  Which means that even the painful things we go through are an expression of God's love to us that He will use for our good and His glory.  What a reminder - I can give thanks!