It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year!
My children have gotten turned on to a local radio station that plays Christmas music non-stop. After a while I have to put the proverbial foot down and tell them to turn it off, mainly because there are only so many renditions of Jingle Bell Rock I can take before I begin to lose my sanity. One of my favorite classic oldie Christmas songs (at least until Sunny FM played it on an endless loop) is It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year by Johnny Mathis. To hear it would brighten my mood, put a smile on my face, and an automatic tap in my left foot.
We go to a lot of trouble to make it the most wonderful time of the year, don’t we? Don’t get me wrong, I love the dramas, cantatas, living nativities, living Christmas trees, parades, the giving and receiving of gifts, fellowship meals, and all the bluster and excitement that surrounds the holiday season. This may be a good indication that I am getting older and becoming curmudgeonly (strange considering I am only 35), but I have begun to long for a much simpler, much more relaxed holiday.
I have determined in my own heart to spend much less time on the grandeur and exorbitance of the season but rather focus my time and energies on the genuine reasons Christ came and looking to apply Christmas to my heart instead of my pocketbook. Here are ten ways that I believe we can make it the most wonderful time of the year, at least from Jesus’ perspective.
- Instead of spending a heap of money on gifts for the children as a demonstration of love, rather share with them the truest demonstration of God’s love, that of the gift of His Son. Establish a new family tradition to celebrate the Incarnation (and teach them that word!).
- Don’t nitpick what the local retailers can and cannot say to you as you patronize their stores. Instead of asserting some warped kind of Christian chutzpah about the “Merry Christmas” declaration, offer a warm smile and a kind word. Their jobs are difficult enough without rude Christians taking out on them something they cannot control anyway.
- Visit your local nursing home, especially if you have young children. They love to see young children and it brightens their otherwise glum and dismal days to see their vibrant energy and fresh little faces. It does not matter if the residents know you or not. Just make sure they know you care.
- There is a needy family in your community that will not get to celebrate Christmas the way you will. If you or your church knows them, take them a Christmas tree replete with gifts and a holiday meal. If not, then make sure the local charity organizations do know and then enable those groups to help them.
- Do you know of someone you have hurt or offended sometime this past year? Christmas is a good time to say you’re sorry. Plus, if someone has hurt you and you’re hanging on to the grudge, Christmas is a good time to let it go and grant forgiveness.
- Go out Christmas caroling. It doesn’t matter if you don’t know how to sing. Use it as a way to meet your neighbors. Then, go back in the early spring and share the Gospel with them and invite them to church.
- The holidays are an especially difficult time for widows and widowers. Invite them over for coffee. Ask them to share their favorite Christmas story about their spouses.
- Go beyond Lottie Moon. Adopt a missionary and send them support. Or, adopt a ministry and send it support. A good idea is here.
- Tell your boss and co-workers how much you appreciate them and their sacrifices on the job. Do what you can to make their jobs less stressful during an already stressful time of year.
- If you really want to celebrate Christmas, then behave like a Christian. Show everyone you come into contact with grace and love. Let people know by your love and actions that you belong to Him. Share the Gospel with whoever will listen.
These are just a few suggestions to make Christmas the most wonderful time of the year. I am sure you can add many more. Why not do so in the thread or how you might make one of my suggestions a reality this Christmas?
Great post, Tony. Thanks for the list. :)
Tony, this is such a wonderful post. It should be posted in every church newsletter in the land. I so wish I had done less giving to my own and teaching them more about giving to others through Jesus. My daughter is very very generous to others and so is her husband. But I see ways (in your list) that I wish I’d used more. Also, this is an excellent list to send that newly wed who hasn’t started a family. Or to a couple who is just beginning a family.
Wes Kenney wrote a post on a Bible to get and read to children. It has a super message in it by the excerpt he published. I’m going to get that for my granddaughter for her to read to my great grandson. And I’m going to get it for my son-in-law to read to his little girls. selahV
Tony,
We’ve added looking at the concept of Advent this year. We look at the prophecies that point to Jesus. We even sing all the verses of O Come. O Come Emmanuel. ;)
To be honest though, the execution of adding this hasn’t been as consistent as I would like due to busyness…which points back to your original point!
BTW, I’ve gone past curmudgeonly and become slightly grouchy when I think about what gospel (prosperity anyone?) I may really be showing to my children with the way we adapt to our cultural expression of Christmas.
Thanks for the list! It’s very counter-cultural, thus, it’s very appealing!
Bernard,
Hey, thanks!
Mrs. V,
Thanks so much for the encouraging words. One of my goals as a daddy has been to teach my children how to give. It isn’t easy because they are so naturally self-centered, as am I, so it often goes against the grain of who we are. Progress has been slow. On a brighter note though, it seems God has brought more folks into our lives to whom we can give. We have found ourselves at times pushed to the limits of our capabilities but He has always provided!
Mike,
Thanks for your transparency! I can totally identify with grouchy. My family and I went to a Living Christmas tree at a HUGE church in our area and when we left, we were all absolutely overwhelmed when we left. The children were practically speechless and I don’t think it was because they were so taken aback by the sheer grandeur of the spectacle. I think it was more associated with overload.
I like your idea about Advent. We have done that at church for some time, but not at home, which is probably why I haven’t thought about using it at home.
Thanks everyone for participating in the discussion. God’s blessings upon you all.
Tony,
My family and I have been doing many of these things this year, some for the first time. And God is teaching me that it is more blessed to give than to receive.
But I have not been doing as good a job at teaching these to our congregation. So I am sending an e-newsletter Monday with your post in it.
Thanks for articulating these truths. And Merry Christmas to you, my friend!
Thanks Tony. A Chinese village will host us for Christmas this year. Our kids are now 15, 16 and 17 years old. They first came to the villages when they were 4, 5 and 6. This time it is to say goodbye.
As we finish our contribution to the gospel getting to a tribe of 500,000 we would like to thank Southern Baptists for the generosity through which we have been able to go forward.
Financially we have never lacked for anything that could help the work go forward. In regard to prayer support, we have been immensely blessed by very personal and persistent commitment to the work for more than a decade. Theologically we have been trusted to take the unchanged gospel and present it in appropriate ways to see the first churches of this people started and reproducing.
This Christmas will be very special as we hand things over for the next phase of the ministry. We thank God, and his people, for allowing us an active part in growing in grace by sharing grace. We also rejoice that this Christmas more of these people will be celebrating Christ than ever before in history.
The Good News of the Prince of Peace is going forward. May we all be refreshed by marveling again at the peace offered to us and through us.
shalom,
Russell
Roger,
And Merry Christmas to you and yours, too! That is an awfully humbling thing you’re doing with the post. I sincerely appreciate it. You’re a blessing!
Russel,
All I can say, in a word is, WOW! That is absolutely amazing. Thanks for that glimpse into the life and ministry of a front-line missionary. You are truly blessed, my new friend. May God continue to bless you and may we continue to be sensitive to His leadership in such areas that we can continue to enable those with a passion such as yourself to do that which God has appointed Him to do. You are doing an amazing work. I am glad I can be a small part of it and God’s greater and grander plan of spreading the Gospel to the nations.
Great post Tony. Been trying to do some of those for years now. We’ve celebrated Advent as a family for decades and at church for years. It really seems to help slow everything down. Your list contains a lot of other ideas I’ll grab too.
Grace!
David
David,
Glad I could be a bit of help this holiday season. God bless you and your family this Christmas!
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