"Christmas time" is over...now what?

So, I love Christmas. I know that's probably a very cliché statement, but it's such a wonderful season. For the couple of weeks leading up to Christmas, people are just nicer. Granted, there will still be the grumpy people that are grumpy no matter what. But there is just a feeling in the air around Christmas that makes everything seem...well, magical. Yes, I said it. Magical. It's “the most wonderful time of the year”, as the popular song states. There seems to be less people honking at cars on the road. People seem more apt to let someone cut in on the highway, or even in line at a store if they are in a hurry. Christmas is the only time strangers can stand on other stranger's porches and sing songs to them and it's not considered strange. You see people donating time and money to the Salvation Army, you see people going out of their way to help complete strangers. My church does a wonderful outreach called “stars of hope”, and every year I am amazed at the outpouring of love and kindness I see from the members of the church. I could tell a hundred stories from the past few years of helping with the stars of hope, but more details on that may be for another time. My point is, Christmas is a time when you see people reaching out to help each other and there is a feeling of peace.

Here we are, a couple weeks later. Life is back to normal. People are honking again, cutting people off on the highway, and I'm pretty sure if someone stood on my porch and started singing to me, I would probably be a little weirded out. There are no more Salvation Army people on the street corners, and it seems that the Christmas spirit has been replaced by the complacency and routine that exists for about 50 weeks of the year. This makes me sad.

Why do we wait until Christmas to go out of our way to help people? Why does the patience and love that seems to abound at Christmas suddenly disappear? Christmas is the celebration of Jesus' birth. Yes I know, I know. He was probably born in the spring because the evidence suggests (insert facts indicating Jesus was born in the spring here). But we don't know the exact date. And quite frankly, I don't think that it matters when someone was born, just that we remember and celebrate it. So, December 25 is as good a day as any to celebrate Jesus' birth around the world. But as Christians, we don't just celebrate his birth on Christmas and then let it go. We celebrate his birth, and his life, and his death and resurrection all year round. We do more good things around Christmas in the name of Jesus. Why should that be different than the other 364 days? I think that in some ways, Christmas should be just another time of the year that Christians do great things to help people. How great will the day be when every day is like Christmas? Not in the sense of getting presents, but in going out of our way to help strangers just because it's the right thing to do.

So this is my challenge to you. Not just for today, or this week, or this year. But always try to keep the same attitude that you have at Christmas. Always be looking for ways to improve someone's life, whether a closest friend or a stranger. And remember, by doing this, you might be entertaining an angel.

MerryAlways-Christmas, and be salt and light!!

~Hannah~

Yet Another View on Inner Beauty

Every girl has probably heard at least 15 lessons on inner beauty and how she shouldn't change for anyone. I don't know what guys talk about when girls are having the inner beauty talks, but I'm sure at some point guys have also heard lessons or speeches on how they are unique and special just they way they are. I assume the term "inner  beauty" isn't used, but hey- I could be wrong. My point is, everyone always hears how they are unique and how they are special. This is an especially popular topics in youth groups. I believe that our view should shift a little on this topic. Don't get me wrong, I fully believe that people should always remember and be reminded that they are unique, one of a kind. This is a biblical principle, that we are fearfully and wonderfully made (Psalm 139) and that we are made in God's image. But I think that it is just as important to remember that everyone else is just as unique and special as we are, and everyone else is made in God's image, too.

Something to think about. If you go to a museum or an art gallery and start critiquing a painting or sculpture, you are insulting the artist. You are saying that the artist didn't do a good enough job. How many times have we done this to God? When we gossip about someone or laugh or talk about someone who is different than us, we are saying that one of God's creations is not good enough, that God didn't do a good enough job. This was a really tough lesson for me to learn, because it calls for change. But if you think about gossiping as insulting the Artist, it can really make you think twice.

Something my mom reminds me of is that God spent just as much time making you as he did making your neighbor, Moses, your brother or sister, Esther...the list goes on.

How awesome is that?

You're special and loved. Be salt and light!

~Hannah~