Do you know how many times I have come back to this, and yet been totally afraid to answer? It's an intimidating question!
So I can't speak for all time, but I think that this year, it served to remind me of a few things.
1.The world tries to make it about buying stuff. Sometimes it get's so commercialized, I'm sick. But I do think it's about remembering each other and saying thanks. Thanks for being family, friends, teachers, etc. I can easily overlook the need for that... and there is part of this holiday that helps me not forget. I think the world gets that message even if their not believers...
2.I think it reminds us of good things... hope, love, generosity, "being good" ( Santa's list even as a kid served me well...). Hopefully as adults that sends us to a place a little closer to what God wants for us in reality. Any form of reminding us of that is good, I think.
3. I wasn't raised to think of this, but fully embrace now that Christmas is a day we can really focus on what God did in sending Christ to us in this form. I can't think of His birth witout thinking of His death, and the thought of knowing this child's end of life as you imagine His innocent beginning really can transform your heart, and lead you to seek to understand God more fully. Whether it is effective and whether each and every person allows the message to sink into the wonderings of their heart, I don't know... except I have to believe God uses every means possible to woo and call those who He created to belong to Him, including a simple holiday.
So, ultimately.. that would be my small answer.. and my "yes" - that I believe it is effective... in the heart of each one who allows it to be, and in the Power of One who uses everything He wants for His glory and our benefit.
1 comment:
Do you know how many times I have come back to this, and yet been totally afraid to answer?
It's an intimidating question!
So I can't speak for all time, but I think that this year, it served to remind me of a few things.
1.The world tries to make it about buying stuff. Sometimes it get's so commercialized, I'm sick. But I do think it's about remembering each other and saying thanks. Thanks for being family, friends, teachers, etc. I can easily overlook the need for that... and there is part of this holiday that helps me not forget. I think the world gets that message even if their not believers...
2.I think it reminds us of good things... hope, love, generosity, "being good" ( Santa's list even as a kid served me well...). Hopefully as adults that sends us to a place a little closer to what God wants for us in reality. Any form of reminding us of that is good, I think.
3. I wasn't raised to think of this, but fully embrace now that Christmas is a day we can really focus on what God did in sending Christ to us in this form. I can't think of His birth witout thinking of His death, and the thought of knowing this child's end of life as you imagine His innocent beginning really can transform your heart, and lead you to seek to understand God more fully. Whether it is effective and whether each and every person allows the message to sink into the wonderings of their heart, I don't know... except I have to believe God uses every means possible to woo and call those who He created to belong to Him, including a simple holiday.
So, ultimately.. that would be my small answer.. and my "yes" - that I believe it is effective... in the heart of each one who allows it to be, and in the Power of One who uses everything He wants for His glory and our benefit.
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