It Comes from the Inside, Not the Outside, No Matter How Much “Stuff” You Have
It’s almost Christmas.
Last night my wife came to me and said, “Do you realize Christmas is next week?” I told her that I did know that. She said, “I can’t believe how close it is. I’m not ready.”
This is a common sentiment this time of the year…okay, every year.
It seems that the conversation of time going by faster is a familiar, not just at this time of the year. I don’t disagree that it certainly can feel this way. But time is not moving any differently than it ever did.
The time issue is more about us trying to squeeze in too much. I believe we’ve been given exactly the right amount of time to do whatever we’ve been put here to do. The problem is with how we spend our time rather than how much we have.
And so much of what we’re trying to squeeze in, is the wrong stuff.
This issue only increases with Christmas.
The focus can become the activities, events, competing with the neighbors when decorating and gifts…rather than family, friends, celebrating and the real gift of Christmas.
There is a story about a little boy who only wanted a specific red toy truck for Christmas. This truck was had the boy’s full focus. Nothing else mattered. There under the tree was that red truck on Christmas morning. All the other presents were overlooked. He had his truck.
Later that day the little boy came to his dad crying. His truck was broke. Through his sobs, he said, “My Christmas is broke.” We can sure tell where his focus was. His whole Christmas was wrapped up in that truck.
Our Christmas focus can end up being in the wrong place if we aren’t careful.
We need to have the kind of attitude that Paul exhibits in Philippians 4:4-7. He wrote, “Always be filled with joy from the Lord…Don’t worry about anything, but pray and ask God for everything you need, always giving thanks for what you have. And because you belong to Christ Jesus, God’s peace will stand guard over all your thoughts and feelings. His peace can do this far better than our human minds.”
He wrote this while in prison.
You would think we should be able to be joyful, living the blessed lives that we live.
We need to take Paul’s passion to heart this and every Christmas.
This is where real Christmas joy comes from!
