Christmas is usually a melancholy time for me. I can't explain it. I find it sad that we can't be as loving and giving throughout the year as we are at Christmas time. We save it all up for one day and once that day of peace and goodwill is gone, we're back to our regular way of doing things.
This year we are all trying to recover from the shock of the school shooting that took so many lives and we're trying to make some kind of sense of it. We want to do anything and everything we can to keep it from happening again but we don't know what to do. The reasons that it happened are so many that we can't find one single thing to blame. Should we place all of the blame on the scapegoat as they did in the old testament days? Should we burden the goat with all of our sins... the sins of society, the sins of the world and send it out into the wilderness as a sacrifice to face certain death all alone? Someone already died for those sins and before doing so, he left an example for us in the way he lived his life Along with that example are instructions on how we are to behave and react and what we are to do as we go about living our lives. Admittedly, it isn't always clear but there are some things that are clear.
Christians seem to know this savior and what he wants of us. They can tell the stories, quote the verses, give their advice to others and criticize... they talk the talk. It's time to make changes and do more than make noise. It's time to put that knowledge into action. That whole "what would Jesus do" fad seemed like a good idea for teaching our children and teenagers how to behave but maybe we should be asking ourselves the same question. How would Jesus react to this out of control world?
I'm not saying that you should start hanging out with the sinners, go barefoot and walk the streets. What I'm saying is that we need to change our attitudes. We need to change our way of thinking. In every instance we should be asking ourselves "If this were me, how would I want to be treated?" Put yourself into the place of the other person. We simply cannot know the pain and frustration or the background that motivates people that we deal with, yet we judge them based on our own standards. Everyone we encounter didn't have the same advantages that we had. They weren't taught the same values. We can't expect the same thing from them that we expect from everyone else and since we don't know who these people are we should treat EVERY ONE we come into contact with with compassion. We should give all of them the benefit of the doubt.
I read about an ABC News poll that said that 85% of all Americans consider themselves Christians. Why aren't they more vocal? 85%!!!!!! Those who aren't followers of Christ seem very vocal about what they think Jesus would do in every circumstance and they point to Christians as hypocrites for knowing what they should do but not being as loving, forgiving, compassionate and generous as Jesus. They really frustrate me because they expect so much from us and they expect us to get it right all the time. We do get it right but it isn't on the evening news. Every church that I am aware of is very generous, giving back to their communities and to the world not only with money but also with service from church members. In their generosity, they don't require that recipients believe as they do, they share their beliefs because they consider salvation something of great value that needs to be shared.
As followers, we know that in addition to responsibility to our fellow man, there are requirements of us and one day we will undergo a time of accountability to our God, the Creator of us all. Are we going to admit that we were generous with our selves and our compassion only during the holidays and at times of catastrophic emergency? Or are we going to admit that we were generous every day?
We show the world the kind of person we are by our action or inaction. What kind of person does the world see in you?
Stepping off the soap box....
This holiday is proving to be even tougher than I expected. The loss of Daddy in October was very tough, even though I had plenty of time to prepare myself for it. Many days I still find myself weepy. I catch myself when I'm out and about thinking about picking up something to take for daddy the next time I visit. I'm still training myself to think differently. It's a hard process to go through.
I do take great comfort in the knowledge that Daddy was a Christian. His suffering has ended and he is reunited with my mother and my brother and all of those who died in Christ and for that reason, I'm at peace about his death and am happy for him. It's what he longed for, going home. As crazy as the world is today, I am so thankful that he didn't have to witness last week's tragic news, it would have broken his heart, just as it has broken the hearts of all of us. But I still miss him.
Warmer and happier days.
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