The Heart of Christmas

-


When do you take down your Christmas decorations?  I encourage you to keep the Christmas music playing when you embark on that task and maybe even select a decoration to leave out as a reminder to keep Christ in all your days in 2022. He is the heart of Christmas and the adoration for what God has done for us through Christ should stay with us every day.

This December our energy was zapped here at Shiloh by a virus and we were hesitant to invite anyone to enjoy the decorations not wanting to spread our germs. As I looked around at the beautiful decorations I did a heart check as to why we decorate. Is it to honor the birth of Christ?  Is it for our personal joy and the nostalgia our heirloom decorations reflect?  Is it to bring delight to those who enter our homes?  Maybe all of the above?

Those of you who know me well, know I love to offer hospitality to others.  In the March 1983 Readers Digest there was a story about a sign at the entrance of an English castle open to the public which reads,

"It is the duty of the host to make his guests feel at home. It is the duty of the guests to remember that they are not." Don't you love it!  I missed making people feel at home this Christmas season, but it was an excellent time of reflection of why we invite others into our lives.

In our faith lingo we speak of inviting Christ into our hearts.  Hmm. We like to be in control don't we. In reality, these are the very hearts He created and the hearts of which He controls controls every beat.

Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me. Revelation 3:20

That's the verse we like to go to about "inviting Jesus into our hearts", but as I read this it doesn't mention our hearts and it's not about us doing the action, but it is Jesus asking us to do something.  Jesus knows when we drift away from fellowship with Him. I don't think this is as much a salvation verse as a "come back to me" verse. Oh, our hearts do wander.

I love Jesus and I love each of you!

Here are two beautiful songs to stir our hearts related to Christ!

The Songs

Is There Room in Your Heart

Make Room Casting Crowns Matt Maher

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iUFSxt7qkNw


The Heart of Christmas Matthew West

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ASJktrBObrI

Popular posts from this blog

She Fought the Good Fight

-
Image
February 27 Bible Gateway's verse yesterday was: This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him . 1 John 4:9 A fitting verse for the day my everyday friend, soul sister, monster of the faith and mischievous partner in crime, Kaye, left this world behind and headed to her heavenly home. My husband was able to be by her bedside and said he knew she heard the words of our faith that he shared. Her sweet daughter held the phone up to her ear so I could say good-bye and the brightest single star you have ever seen shown through my bedroom window as she exited this earth! Yesterday, my heart literally ached so badly that I told the Lord, "Take me too!" Wouldn't she have been surprised if I had snuck up on her in heaven and said, "Thought you were going somewhere without me, did ya." When we received the call she was ready to go, I called out to the Lord for comfort and He led me to the Bible Gat
Read more

Marriage Matters #1

-
Image
One of life's deepest hurts is when the one you love is unfaithful. Forty years ago, I remember an older friend, whose wife had been unfaithful and left him for another man saying to me..."Boo, I hope you never experience having the person you love and are married to, living 8 blocks away loving someone else." Deep hurt. They divorced. The wife of another friend of ours was having an affair with a fellow church member and a neighbor of theirs who lived 5 blocks away. She moved in with this man and our friend said one evening he was walking by the house where they were living together and saw them sitting at a table having a candlelight dinner. Ugh. The torment. I've always said it would be aweful to find out the person you were married to and  loved deeply loved another.  Hmm. We are the bride of Christ.  Is He our first love? 2 Peter 2:14 says: They have eyes full of adultery, insatiable for sin. They entice unsteady souls. They have hearts trained in greed. Accursed
Read more

Are You Sinking... Being Tossed About?

-
Image
  A text came in from our neighbor recently, on a cold blustery day, when I was home with a stomach bug and awful headache. He said, "My canoe blew off our dock and has floated over to your shore."  And I'm thinking..."And you want me to do what?" I explained my husband was at work, but could help in the afternoon. I went to the window and could see the boat being tossed back and forth along our shore line. One minute it was close to our main dock and the next the winds had shifted and it was 200 feet in the opposite direction.  What I then realized is it had been taking on water. A text came again that he was in his car and driving around to our property.  Climbing out of my night shirt, I put on warm ups, UGGS boots and a hooded coat and limped outside to see how I could help. When I arrived to the shore line, the neighbor had tossed a 3 prong hook tied to a rope into the boat and was pulling it to the shore with one hand.  He had recently had hand surgery and
Read more