Category: Devotions

I realize some of you are gasping with the unreal belief that there is a Christmas tree still up the end of January. Others are looking at the ornaments and wondering what they all say. Still there may be a few of you that have observed the partial shoulder and hair of someone on the extreme right. And some of you will see the crepe paper.  Very few of you are wondering, “what more can a Christmas tree do?” In our world, Christmas trees are for Christmas. A few of you over achievers, or perhaps idle hearts, prefer to keep the tree up for longer than the norm. I am one of those idle hearts. I love the beauty and the warmth of the Christmas tree. I didn’t grow up with the celebration of Christmas so I am making up for it in my “older years”.  One of our Christmas trees remain up for a long time, usually until the snow is melted. As one normally thinks, Christmas trees are for Christmas. Lights, tinsel, ornaments, bows and perhaps a star or angel top the tree. Last night, the Christmas tree became more. We went out to eat with a couple friends and came home to girls jumping out yelling ‘Happy Birthday’, and a couple hiding in the closet not sure when they should erupt with the joyous news. Streamers and banners criss crossed the walls entering the kitchen. And then there was the Christmas tree. It was there, so why not decorate it? Even the windmill on the top, alternate star option, had some crepe paper on it.

What more can your christmas tree do? I realize most of you don’t have one up anymore but we all have Christmas trees in our lives. Christmas trees represent things that are a singular focus or so we have made them that way.  Somehow, we make them a sacred cow of sorts.  We wouldn’t imagine using it for something else.  But if God gives us a Christmas tree, then God surely will put in our heart a way to transform it into others ways to enjoy and to bless people. Often we don’t serve others because we feel we don’t have anything to offer when in reality we all have Christmas trees in our kitchen just waiting to be decorated with crepe paper.  Some of you love to write cards. The old fashioned cursive on paper, envelope, stamp and mail kind of cards. Throw some crepe paper on that idea and write a note to a total stranger of encouragement. Put the note in your purse and next time you see someone who looks like they could use some crepe paper in their lives, hand them the note.   I realize that when people walk into church their body has a way of walking to the same place, walking in three steps and sitting down. What if you threw some crepe paper on that walk, turned left instead of right and sat by someone new. And just what if you then asked them to lunch when church was over?  That’s asking more than what a Christmas tree can do.  Jesus did that alot. He just went two steps beyond where the normal person stopped. Jesus listened to a few more sentences. Jesus picked up a few more children and stooped to help a few more who had fallen. Jesus had a way of doing more than what a Christmas tree can do!

We often do the expected; the norm. It’s a Christmas tree. It’s for Christmas. Get out of the box and see what more can a Christmas tree do! Look farther than the corner, listen for more than words, reach just another 6″ and turn the top book over to see what’s under it.  In a world where people are in such a hurry, leave the tree up in the corner and see what more it can do. Slow down and be intentional. Look for one more purpose for you being where God has placed you.  Exodus 33 tells us the story of Moses and Joshua at the tent of meeting. God would speak with Moses just like we would talk to each other. In this chapter, Moses returned to his tent but Joshua stayed. He didn’t leave. Joshua remained. Moses, the leader, the one who got to listen to God, walked home. Joshua found something else that a Christmas tree could do. He just stayed a bit longer where the presence of God had been. It doesn’t tell us anything else, except we know Joshua went on to do great things with God’s help.  All it tells us is that Joshua didn’t leave the tent.

So be a Joshua. Stay a bit longer and look for a reason God has for you where you are. Don’t be in a hurry to go on to the next Christmas tree in your life when there are still more things to put on the tree in front of you.  And don’t worry about what people will say. That crepe paper may be there for awhile. It will remind me that gifts come in all sizes and sizes and crepe paper on my Christmas tree is pretty special!

Grace. We sing about it. There are beautiful plaques and wall hanging that we hang in our homes. We name our girls Grace. We tell people to give more of it and we would like to receive it more often. But what is grace?  Mercy and grace go hand in hand. Except they are so different. Many use them as analogies for what God has done for us. Sometimes that gets lost in the definition. Mercy is not receiving what we deserve. I go too fast, I get stopped by the police and I get a warning. That’s mercy.

Grace is getting  a bit more complicated to where we not only don’t get what we deserve but we get extra bonus and blessing on top of what we don’t deserve.  Grace is taking your car to have the dent hammered out, (yes it seems odd they hammer a dent to make it better, or better yet plunge it out) and they not only fix the dent, but rotate the tires, change the oil, fix that one headlight that hasn’t worked for awhile and then wash, buff and clean the interior. Now that’s grace! I paid for a dent to be fixed and I got a lot more I didn’t plan on, pay for or anticipate. It puts a spring in your step and a perk in your heart without caffeine!

The catch for me, is asking God for grace when I know I deserve consequences. I keep tripping over the same problem in my heart. God keeps forgiving me and giving me added blessings to remind me that I am valued, loved and wanted.

People don’t do that well. People seem to remember what I have done and am struggling with and add fuel to the fire and squirt that burning stuff on the logs so they reignite. I need grace, they give me selective mercy with an added handful of spite.  We don’t understand mercy or grace because we don’t give it well. If we don’t know how to do something it’s hard to explain it.  I ask kids to teach me what I taught them. That tells me if they have actually learned it. To teach something you really have to “get it”. To be graceful and to live in a world of responses filled with grace, we have to understand it. So many times we give a bit of mercy but we don’t do grace. We may not give someone a ticket they deserve but we remind them how wonderful we were to them everytime we see them. And most of us, or I will just speak for myself, I don’t fix the dent, change the oil, rotate the tires, clean the interior and wash the others cars in my life. It takes too much time and energy. And yet, we come to God with the dents in our life. He hands us back a clean car, far better than we could have every imagined or dreamed and simply says “here, drive it”.

How much deeper would we affect people with the love of God if we lived the grace of God ?

So many times I have gotten that statement: here’s what I want you to do. I have preached that sermon more than a few times. It’s the statement combined with a list. My speech or my list usually does not include the next word however: “God helping you.” Usually my speech would go like, this is your problem, it’s your responsibility, you didn’t do it when I asked before so now this is what I want you to do.

Paul gives us a list of what God would like us to do and then gives us that line that changes it all; God helping you. It seems so simple the way it is stated. Take your everyday life and live it with Jesus being your hands and heart! The stuff you do normally, make it be an offering to God that makes him smile and people relax. Then he adds specifics like your sleeping, your eating, going to work and walking around life. That about sums its up. That’s pretty much a normal day. We sleep, we eat, we work and we walk around trying to figure out what we were doing so we can finish it. I am sitting in the new to me green comfy chair in the corner. I see an envelope that is ready to be shipped, a puzzle that needs finishing, prayer list great needs to be gone through, and menus that need to be planned for the week. I see my journal which tells me what I have planned for the week and I see it’s all “walking around life” stuff. Sometimes I don’t think of it as a living sacrifice. Sometimes I don’t see it as anything good just stuff I have to do. And yet there is so much fun in the walking around life. I sat at a hockey game yesterday, picked up a new to meet huge Christmas tree for next year, painted, made cookies, did dishes, played with a dog and watched a couple very good football games. I was Just walking around life. Step by step I am being Jesus with skin to those I meet. Isn’t hard, it isn’t easy: but it’s what I am supposed to be doing to lay an offering at the feet of Jesus. The kicker is the statement, ” God helping you.” So off I go to be more that what I could normally be cuz I have that statement at the end of the directions. It’s beyond Mix well. It’s better than stir for 10 minutes and kneed gently. It takes the work off my heart and puts it on Gods shoulders. I can handle that!

I wasn’t privileged to grow up eating oatmeal for breakfast. In fact we didn’t even have pancakes for breakfast! That was Saturday lunch. I have grown to almost enjoy oatmeal: almost. If it has sugar in it or stuff on it I can eat it and savor the fact that I won’t be hungry until lunch. I might want food but I can live without food till lunch.

There are times in life I have learned that I have to simply pretend I like oatmeal. It’s not always oatmeal sometimes it’s people, incidents, misunderstandings, angry words spoken to me or lies. Sometimes it’s people causing me to change my direction because they don’t want to do the right thing. I just have to pretend it’s oatmeal and wait till lunch for something better to happen!

Years end. The count down to the new year. The new Year where people try to stay up late and either succeed or epic failure happens. There is nothing magical about New Year’s Eve or actually New Year’s Day but we make it a special time to look ahead or reflect back. Good or bad, our culture revels in reflection and anticipation. I hesitate at both. Reflection gives us a chance to relive: much of which we shouldn’t waste as much energy as we do. Anticipating usually gives us false security that something could happen and leads us to false conclusions. Tomorrow may not be better, it could be worse. Tomorrow may not be the answer to your questions, but be the start to another long run down a short path.

Years end. The count down to the new year. What if we lived each day just for the day itself? What if tomorrow didn’t matter and yesterday hadn’t happened? What if we simply enjoyed the day for what God has allowed and placed in our hand the moment.

We get caught up in the past. Photo albums clutter our coffee tables. Scrapbooks give us pages of stuff to wade through, not always good and not always bad. What brings the change of emotion into the equation is our grip on what was and our fear of what could be. We want to change what was or hold it dearly. We want to know the future or plan it on detail. That in itself is where we get hung up.

“Thy goodness has been with me through a twisting wilderness, in retreat helping me to advance, when beaten back making sure headway. Thy goodness will be with me in the year ahead; I will hoist sail and draw up anchor, with thee as the blessed pilot if my future as of my past.” (Puritan book of prayers)

Happy New Year, for whatever it holds may not be happy and may not be a new adventure book it will be what God has allowed and it will be possible with Christ.

” I launch my bark on the unknown waters of this year,

With thee, O Father as my harbor, thee O Son, at my helm, Thee, O Holy Spirit, filling my sails.” (Puritan book of prayers)