“It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year!”

The stores have been selling Christmas items since Labor Day.  After Halloween the real push for the holidays begins and Thanksgiving is a warm-up for Christmas and then one week later it will be the New Year!  It is the holiday “three-peat” of food, fun and fellowship.  I am amazed at how this year has flown by in a whir.  As I get older they seem to be clicking by a little faster.

 The holiday season is, and has always been, the best time of the year for family and friends to reunite and share a meal, tell old family stories (especially embarrassing ones that involve you), laugh at all of those same jokes you have heard Uncle “So-n-So” tell a hundred times, and just plain spend some quality time with your family.

 What could be better than that?  Everyone loves the holiday season, right?  Sadly, the answer to that question is “No”! 

 This time of the year between Thanksgiving and New Years has the highest suicide rate of any other time.  People are under enormous amounts of pressure ranging from financial strains, domestic disputes, and the loss of loved ones.  Yes the holidays can be very lonely and dismal for some.  I am a firm believer that a lot of these problems are rooted in the very fact that the main reason for the holidays is largely ignored by most and scantly remembered by some.  Our society has taken Christ out of the season and replaced Him with an “X” and that has repercussions that filter into all of our lives.  But, that is another “blog” for a different day.

 I want us to focus today on what we can do to help these individuals out through these times.  All of us know someone who has lost loved ones, jobs, and had rocky marriages and various other troubles in their life.  Let’s make it a point this season to give that person a call and invite them over for a cup of coffee, share a conversation, or drop by to see them and let them know you were thinking about them.  You never know when you dial the phone what “triggers” you might be stopping from being pulled.  Let’s share the love of Christ with those who are in the most need of it.

  I urge you to seek God in prayer and ask Him to put on your heart someone that might need comfort and love this holiday season.  Call that old high school friend you have not seen in years and just let them know that you were thinking about them and that you are praying for them.  Call that person you might have had a quarrel with and put to rest any bitterness between you.  If you do these things, it will mean so much more than anything you put under a tree. 

 Give the true gift of LIFE, give the true gift of LOVE, give the message of JESUS CHRIST! 

May Jesus be the center of your season this year…and every year!

In Christ

Pastor Ken