Forgive Us Our Christmases
The story is told of a little girl. It was the beginning of the Christmas season, and around her house everything was abuzz with action in preparation for the holidays. It seemed everyone was too busy to spend time with the little girl, and everything she tried to do to gain attention or help, only resulted in her being shooed away or reprimanded for "being in the way". As her exhausted mother finally tucked her into bed, the little girl began to recite her usual bedtime praying of the Lord's Prayer. Being tired of all the bustle and fuss around the Christmas holiday, the little girl prayed; ".....and forgive us our Christmases as we forgive those who Christmas against us...!"
While perhaps only a fictional story, the words of her prayer should ring loud and clear today. "FORGIVE US OUR CHRISTMASES!"
There are many disagreements when it comes to the Christmas holiday season. People boycott stores to keep "Christ" in the name of the Holiday. They have arguements with others about the "true" meaning of Christmas, etc.
However, while I'm sure there is a time and a place for these kind of things, I think the MAIN problem lies in the way Christians act around Christmas and throughout the year for that matter.
I personally feel WAY too much attention and effort is put towards trying to force those not of the Christian faith to follow and accept Christian tradition, holidays, etc., and not enough thought is giving to the way we actually live our own lives. If we as Christians would truly live the way God has commanded us to live, we would have more of an effect on the way people act towards Christians and thus the celebration of Christmas, than by boycotting a store or two.
Just the other day I was reminded of how rude and inconsiderate some people who claim to be Christians can act.
I was sitting at a stoplight waiting to turn onto a busy 4 lane road. I had my turn signal on indicating that I was going to turn right. The traffic on the busy road was moving along pretty well, and there weren't many breaks in the traffic.
As I sat there, a guy in a pickup truck pulled up behind me. He immediately began honking his horn telling me to go. I know in most states drivers are allowed to turn right on a red light after stopping, if there is no traffic coming. However, many people, this guy included, seem to think that means the are supposed to turn right on red.
I wasn't about to pull out in front of some fast moving vehicle just to make this guy happy, so I just waited for the light to turn green.
As soon as the light turned and I pulled out and made my right turn, this guy went flying around me screeching tires and all, and shaking his fist.
As he passed me in such a hurry, I noticed on his bumper was a sticker which read; "Love God - Love People".
And we wonder why many people have a less than favorable impression of so-called "Christians".
As I've already mentioned, if we spent as much effort living like a Christian ought to live, there would be a lot more favorable impression of Christians in this world, and we wouldn't have to worry about the other things as much.
At Christmas time, it seems we let all things get even further out of wack. We demand presents from people, complain when someone didn't get us what we wanted, fight and argue over where/when the parties will be had, who will be coming to dinner, etc.
The real meaning of Christmas is to celebrate the birth of the King of Kings! However, the entire holiday season has become completely too commercialized even in Chrstian realms.
Truthfully, we ought to say; "Forgive us our Christmases", and we should strive to honor, worship, and adore the Christ of Christmas with our words, with our actions, and with our lives!
