I have many wonderful memories of Christmas from my childhood. It is by far my favorite time of year, with the fall coming in at a close second. One of my fondest memories of Christmas is a tradition we always had with my mom. We would ride around in the car, windows all foggy, freezing cold and drive around town looking at the Christmas lights. I’m going to miss the Indiana snow this Christmas, but even more I miss the feeling of being a child and how magical all of the lights were.

This Christmas, just like the Christmases over the past few decades, will likely reflect a little less “Christ” than what most professing Christians would prefer. We’ll hear “Happy Holidays” or “Seasons Greetings” instead of “Merry Christmas”. We’ll see images of Santa Clause and other spiritually sanitized decorations hanging everywhere. A few brave business owners and individuals will paint their windows or hang signs outside proclaiming the coming of Emmanuel, but even those acts of devotion will be viewed as jabs to those who don’t understand the need for Christ in Christmas at all.

I’m reminded this year of how important it is for us all to seek first the Kingdom and His righteousness. I feel very confident that Christ would not want us to be arguing and battling against those that seek to remove him from the holiday that was created to celebrate his birth. After all, Christ is far more interested in people who are truly willing to follow him than those who would give him lip service by shouting “Merry Christmas” while truly caring nothing about the Christ.

Brothers and sisters, if we seek to celebrate Christmas. If we seek to Glorify Him and show appreciation for his willingness to come to earth as a child in complete humbleness. If we truly seek to worship Him in a special way during this season, then decorations and phrases fall far short of the displays of love we send to Him through our hearts and lives.

I encourage you all to seek Him this Christmas. Ignore the fact that more of the world will this year ignore His glory. Let your love shine through and trust that it’ll will be more of a witness than your protests ever will.

Love in Christ!
Evan

It was nearly 9:30 and they would be closing at 10:00, so the parking lot was nearly empty. I grabbed a cart and made my way back to the pharmacy area for some NyQuil and something to soften my chapped lips (it’s amazing what a day full of mouth-breathing can do to a perfectly good set of lips). I also needed to get some milk and printer paper, what an odd cart of items this trip would yield.

I tend to enjoy simple things a little too much. There’s something about roaming through an empty store on a snowy night, examining all of the seasonal merchandise. Almost like being shrunk down and walking through one of those small christmas village sets with all of their perfectly decorated houses with warm yellow light shining through the windows. The boutique shops are always my favorite, especially when they have a window on the front where you can see the inside of the shop. I walked around looking at all of the hot cocoa and coffee mug sets, boxes of chocolates and those chocolate covered cherries I love so much. It was time to go, before I got myself into trouble.

I rolled my cart, squeaky wheel and all, to the front of the store. The girl at the checkout was very friendly.

“Staying warm?” she asked.
“Trying to” I said
“Has the snow started yet?”
“No, don’t think it’s supposed to start until around midnight or so”
“It’s supposed to be snowing, my dreams are being dashed!”

She started having a conversation with another high school boy a couple of isles down from her. Something about how she, as a senior, has discovered a very cool secret about snow days. I couldn’t figure out what she was talking about at first but then she started talking about how many days you could miss before they would not allow you to graduate. She was clearly planning to take full advantage of that little “loophole” should the opportunity (in the form of a kick-off snow day, I guess) present itself. I grabbed my things and left.