Well, after a busy holiday season--Thanksgiving, Advent, Christmas, and New Year's--it is time to settle down to a more normal pace. Perhaps I will even blog a little bit more! Or, if that doesn't become a reality, maybe I will pull the plug on it altogether.
A lot has happened in the last few months that I would have liked to comment upon, but I did not because of the lack of time to do so. It is a little frustrating to have something to say or at least the desire to think more clearly about a subject by writing about it and not find--or make--the time to do so.
Our family had a wonderful time this Christmas sharing gifts and goodwill and seeing family. I hope your Christmas season was joyous also. Several years ago, because of the need to travel early on Christmas morning, causing us to rush too much, we moved our gift-giving in our own family to Christmas Eve morning rather than Christmas morning. While the move was a logistical success in its own right, it had a byproduct that was even more meaningful to our family: it helped us worship Jesus more effectively.
How so? We have a tradition of a special Christmas Eve afternoon meal that is followed a little later by our Christmas Eve Candle Lighting and Communion Worship with our church. Before we instituted our change, there was always the allure of Christmas morning and the gift receiving that would serve to take the minds of especially the children away from the worship experience. When we moved the gifting time to Christmas Eve morning, we had the joy of giving and receiving then, and that resulted in the ability of us all to focus more on the Child of Christmas both in our family traditional meal and then in the worship service.
Our Christmas Eve Worship has always been very special to us. Retelling the story of the darkness and the light always seems fresh and powerful. I hope that you also have learned to understand what a wonderful gift we have from God in His sending Jesus, the Light of the World. We have all walked in darkness, but through Jesus, we now have the light of life, and we can even be light for others. May each of us seek to let our light shine in 2007 in such a way that others may see our good works but be drawn, not to us, but to the Father of light.
God bless you in 2007!
