The Day After Christmas
TWAS THE MONTH AFTER CHRISTMAS
Twas the month after Christmas, and all through the house
Nothing would fit me, not even a blouse.
The cookies I'd nibbled, the eggnog I'd taste
All the holiday parties had gone to my waist.
When I got on the scales there arose such a number!
When I walked to the store (less a walk than a lumber).
I'd remember the marvelous meals I'd prepared;
The gravies and sauces and beef nicely rared,
The wine and the rum balls, the bread and the cheese
And the way I'd never said, "No thank you, please."
As I dressed myself in my husband's old shirt
And prepared once again to do battle with dirt--
I said to myself, as I only can "You can't spend a winter
disguised as a man!"
So-away with the last of the sour cream dip,
Get rid of the fruit cake, every cracker and chip
Every last bit of food that I like must be banished
"Till all the additional ounces have vanished.
I won't have a cookie-not even a lick.
I'll want only to chew on a long celery stick.
I won't have hot biscuits, or corn bread, or pie,
I'll munch on a carrot and quietly cry.
I'm hungry, I'm lonesome, and life is a bore---
But isn't that what January is for?
Unable to giggle, no longer a riot.
Happy New Year to all and to all a good diet!
The Christmas Cast
q
The shepherds returned to their flocks.
q The angels returned to heaven
q Mary and Joseph remained in Bethlehem for 40 days at least. They lived in Egypt following Herod’s discovery of the birth of Christ and the visit of the wise men. They stayed there until Herod’s death. But their lives were never quite the same again.
q Simeon – lived to see the Messiah
q Anna the prophetess – recognized the Christ child.
q Herod – never had a clue as to what happened until the arrival of the wise men perhaps 2 years after Jesus birth
q The Wise Men – went home
Life returns to normal for everyone. Most of our life is spent there in the normal routines. The days when someone asks you’ What’s new?” and you find yourself digging and scratching to say something because you don’t want to say “nothing” and so declare your life to be a string of boring days one after another. In my mind the brilliance of a Christian life, if it is to be found is found in the days after Christmas, figuratively speaking, the days when there is nothing special happening to you – no holidays, no special honors or recognitions, no exotic vacations or undertakings. The place where we spend the majority of our time, the dash between birth and death
1 Thessalonians 4:11 Make it your ambition to lead a quiet life, to mind your own business and to work with your hands, just as we told you, 12 so that your daily life may win the respect of outsiders and so that you will not be dependent on anybody.[1]
HOW DO YOU LIVE YOUR DASH?
I read of a pastor who stood to speak
At the funeral of his friend.
He referred to the dates on her tombstone
From the beginning to the end.
He noted that first came the date of her birth,
And spoke of the second date with tears.
But he said what mattered most of all
Was the dash between those years.
For that dash represents all the time
That she spent alive on earth.
And now only those who loved her
Know what that dash is worth.
For it matters not how much we own;
the cars, the house, the cash.
What matters most is how we live,
And how we spend our dash.
So think about this long & hard,
Are there things you'd like to change?
For you never know what time is left.
You could be at "dash, mid-range."
If we could just slow down enough,
To see what's true & real.
And always try to understand
The way that others feel.
And be less quick to anger,
And show appreciation more,
and love the people in our lives
Like we've never loved before.
If we treat each other with respect,
And more often wear a smile,
Keeping in mind this special dash
Might last but a little while.
So when your eulogy's being read,
Your life's actions to rehash,
Would you smile at the things being said
About how you spent your dash?
The recipe for life in the days after Christmas. Rising to the occasion of daily life.
Every day is an occasion and I think that there should be certain personal and meaningful rituals associated with it.
1. The way that you begin your day will shape it - there will be a sense that you are in control of your day or that your day is in control of you. If it is hurried because you don’t get up in sufficient time then you know what the day will be like. You will be impatient with others because you are irritated with yourself and the fact that you are being run by your schedule. Each day I am developing several practices, priorities and perspectives. No matter how tired I am or how low I am feeling, I feel better when I have gotten myself out of bed to pound the pavement. I’m not trying to make a religion out of running, merely saying that this is my device that gets the bed off my back and gives me regular contact with people that I can laugh with at the beginning of the day. When this routine is interrupted I have to regain control quickly if I am to face the day at my best.
2. I am practicing several things in my prayer life as well. At the beginning of each day, I remind myself that God is sovereign and that I am called to be involved in something that is much bigger than I am. I offer myself to God as an instrument of righteousness, useful only in the hands of God.
Romans 6:11 In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. 12 Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. 13 Do not offer the parts of your body to sin, as instruments of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God, as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer the parts of your body to him as instruments of righteousness. 14 For sin shall not be your master, because you are not under law, but under grace.
Slaves to Righteousness
15 What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means! 16 Don’t you know that when you offer yourselves to someone to obey him as slaves, you are slaves to the one whom you obey—whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness? 17 But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you wholeheartedly obeyed the form of teaching to which you were entrusted. 18 You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness.
19 I put this in human terms because you are weak in your natural selves. Just as you used to offer the parts of your body in slavery to impurity and to ever-increasing wickedness, so now offer them in slavery to righteousness leading to holiness. 20 When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the control of righteousness. 21 What benefit did you reap at that time from the things you are now ashamed of? Those things result in death! 22 But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life. 23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. [2]
In offering myself to God I ask Him to open my eyes to His plan for me today and I ask Him to use me to advance the kingdom of God here on earth in some way. There is a wonderful sense of spiritual adventure for the person who believes that God might actually arrange and direct your steps each day.
I also pray for protection in my own life. Each of us has our own set of strengths and corresponding weaknesses. You can’t have one without the other. The more we appreciate each other for our strengths, the less time we have to dwell on our weaknesses. Your strength in a given area does not make you better or more noble than the person who is weak in the areas in which you are strong. God has given you your weaknesses to remind you that you are just as human as the person who irritates you the most. Remember that you have someone that you irritate because of your own flaws just as much as the person whose flaws set you off. Try to remind yourself of this so that you do not become condescending or judgmental with people. When you encounter these dear folks don’t allow them to rob you of your sense of self-worth or bow to their blindness. To be too irritated with others or consistently judgmental in your spirit or your conduct is an indication of a problem that you have within yourself rather than someone else’s deficiencies.
I pray that God would protect my heart. If I am a compassionate person than I am more vulnerable to the hurts that come from others. If I try to protect my own heart then it becomes hard and I lose a gift that God has given me because I refuse to allow myself to be hurt. On the other hand, if God protects me by helping me to be able to throw off the things that stick to us then my compassion remains and I am unhurt.
3. I must live my life out of my own sense of priorities if I am to live well between Christmases. There is nothing quite so frustrating as allowing your life to become committed to someone else’s priorities. To live your life according to the things that are important to someone else. I do not believe that the way to happiness is to adopt the stance that I must care for myself first – take care of #1. You do have to take care of yourself but not first. People run into problems when they fail to take care of themselves at all. And then they think that the problem is that they have put others first ahead of themselves. I believe that the Christian life is a call to put Christ first, others second and yourself after that. Some hear me saying put Christ first others second and then forget about yourself. That’s not what I am saying. The old “JOY” acronym was Jesus first – Others next – Yourself last. I believe that people who put themselves first are the most unhappy people in the world and I think that they make many other people unhappy. People who do not live by a sense of priority are people who do not know how or when to say “No” If you are to care for yourself the point is that you are on the priority list as well – just not at the top simply because that leads to self-preoccupation and misery because we measure life and people and relationships then according to an over developed sense of expectation. We categorize people, organizations, events, worship services according to their ability to meet our standards and expectations. The higher your sense of expectation is in life the more your set yourself up for disappointment. If your life is in the proper priority order, you live your life gratefully, out of a sense of obligation and you clearly identify the things that are important to you, the things that you have time for and the things that you don’t and you know when to say “no” to the good things and the good people that come along. If you run into people who cannot take no for an answer then you have encountered someone whose life is out of whack and that is their problem not yours.
4. And then I ask God for a proper perspective on the day. Believe it or not there is no better day than today. Doesn’t matter whether it rains or snows. It doesn’t matter what the doctor says. If God is God and your life is at His disposal then you can trust Him if you believe that He loves you. There may be anxious moments waiting for test results. There may be devastating moments hearing the news that you never wanted to hear. There may be painful seasons when the marriage that you thought was indestructible crumbles before your eyes, but somehow in the middle of that storm there is a place of “calm”. At the center of the storm there is usually a place of calm. The hymn writer said it this way, “There is a place of quiet rest near to the heart of God. A place where sin cannot molest, near to the heart of God. There is a place of comfort sweet, near to the heart of God. A place where we our Savior meet, near to the heart of God. There is a place of full release near to the heart of God. A place where all is joy and peace near to the heart of God.” Most of our lives we spend in what is normal routine living. We take the unchangeable weather one day at a time. We can forecast what the winds bring us but we cannot change it. Therefore we must learn to be content in and out of season. You create your own climate and it affects you. It determines whether or not you will enjoy life but it affects others as well. You bring your own climate along with you to others and they will quickly learn whether or not they want to be around you much.
Ill.: Creeper – optional – may not use this
Titus 2 You must teach what is in accord with sound doctrine. 2 Teach the older men to be temperate, worthy of respect, self-controlled, and sound in faith, in love and in endurance.
3 Likewise, teach the older women to be reverent in the way they live, not to be slanderers or addicted to much wine, but to teach what is good. 4 Then they can train the younger women to love their husbands and children, 5 to be self-controlled and pure, to be busy at home, to be kind, and to be subject to their husbands, so that no one will malign the word of God.
6 Similarly, encourage the young men to be self-controlled. 7 In everything set them an example by doing what is good. In your teaching show integrity, seriousness 8 and soundness of speech that cannot be condemned, so that those who oppose you may be ashamed because they have nothing bad to say about us.
9 Teach slaves to be subject to their masters in everything, to try to please them, not to talk back to them, 10 and not to steal from them, but to show that they can be fully trusted, so that in every way they will make the teaching about God our Savior attractive.
11 For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men. 12 It teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, 13 while we wait for the blessed hope—the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, 14 who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good.
15 These, then, are the things you should teach. Encourage and rebuke with all authority. Do not let anyone despise you. [3]
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[1]The New International Version, (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House) 1984.
[2]The New International Version, (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House) 1984.
[3]The New International Version, (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House) 1984.