Christmas Already?

After gaining a bit of pounds from Halloween celebrations and candy, quickly had to get ready for Thanksgiving and after gaining more pounds, suddenly we move right into Christmas!  Already?  Wow, that’s fast, isn’t it? 
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This time of the year moves so darn fast.  And for some of us it is exciting, stressful (not in a bad way), busy, and festive!  This time of the year from October with Halloween all the way to Christmas and New Years is a time that we surround ourselves with our family.  Fun.

But this is not the reality for some people.  Some people that you see in church, run into while shopping, or in the gym.  For some people, this isn’t fun, and this time of the year can be hard… very hard.  Because these are people who may not have family around.  In our midst we have people who have lost their spouse, and this time of the year can be rough. 

Now I am not trying to kill your joy and ruin your holiday spirits.  But sometimes a reminder and an awareness about the people around us can be part of the holiday spirit.  And right now, we are just in the beginning of celebrating Christmas.  Some of us have already decorated the house and some of us have already done some holiday shopping or started baking some yummy treats.  And again, some of you may be just waiting for this time of the year to pass on by as quickly as possible. 

But for all of us, this time of the beginning of Christmas season marks to beginning of the Christian theme of Hope.  We have begun the advent year and this upcoming Sunday we start week one, which is to embody hope.

Hope is about the anticipation of Jesus Christ coming to be born, Emmanuel, Christ with us, Christ to bring the message of God’s love to us all.  Hope.  Hope is coming to be with us.  Hope is embodied not because of the Christmas decorations, the buying of gifts, but it is about wishing that the days to come will give us a sense of freedom.  Hope is about freedom.  Freedom from stress, hardship, and heartache.  Hope is that whatever is causing you stress, hardship, or heartache will somehow find peace in these things, not necessarily the abolishment of these things.  Basically, in anything that happens in life, good or bad, we hope to find peace, we hope that our tomorrows are better than our yesterdays.

So put your hope in God.  What causes you stress, hardship, and heartache will not just disappear, but it will be always with you, and that is not always a bad thing… it is just a reality.  So, in those things that make our life difficult we give is to God and find our freedom.  We trust in God to be our anchor and guide is our messy lives. 

Life is never going to be perfect, but if we trust in God, put our hope in God, then we do not have to worry about anything, or dread that unknown, stress, hardship, or heartache.  If we truly believe that God will always take care of us, then we have nothing to worry about, nothing to fear.  Hope is in God, who gives us freedom and peace.  

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