Are you really ready for Christmas?

I was at the store the other day and  a sales associate asked me a question.  “Are you ready for Christmas?” I answered with, “I’m ready for Christmas to be every day.” With the ability to be on vacation from work and having the funds to be able to buy gifts for people, it is a great time just to relax and enjoy being with family and friends. The problem is that the person who asked me said that they’re not ready for Christmas. I asked them why they’re not ready and they said they weren’t ready for Christmas because their daughter has kidney failure and is in the hospital. They said, “This just sort of sucks the life out of Christmas!”

This really changed my entire perspective of what I was dealing with versus what they were dealing with. Today we have people that have lost their children in America due to violence and are having to deal with so many problems.  I am not trying to put a damper on the holiday perspective, but rather, I am just trying to sort out the balance of the perspective of Christmas.

The Cost of Following Jesus

When Jesus saw the crowd around him, he gave orders to cross to the other side of the lake.  Then a teacher of the law came to him and said, “Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go.”  Jesus replied, “Foxes have dens and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.”  Matthew 8:18-20 (NIV)

The perspective is this: have fun celebrating Christmas, but also, use this time to help others who can’t to the level you can without forcing it.  This is how:  Ask God for the opportunity and if He gives it to you, take it. If he does not, take that!  Pray that if He gives it or not, that you see and hear and are not blind to the spiritual matters that He gives you.

The lady at the check out was God helping me see and hear. My prayer for her is that she and her daughter will have a Merry Christmas and His Will will always be done!

Merry Christmas!!