My house looks like heaps of people threw a party and didn’t clean up after themselves. We’ve left dishes on the couch, tissue paper on the floor, trails of wrapping paper residue, cups and mugs on end tables and snacks litter the kitchen counter from us grazing types. When I scan our family room and kitchen, it looks like we had a magnificent party, enjoying everything! And rightfully so because we celebrated the birth of the Savior of the world!! We celebrated that God entered human existence as a baby, along with shepherds and magi discovering God’s genuine love displayed in human skin!
How could we not celebrate and party!?!?!!!
So the day after Christmas, my house looks like a party hangover and maybe there’s also some food coma hangover from the sugar, treats and tasty delectable that we enjoy on this special celebration.
Once we get some helpful caffeine in the bloodstream, we’ll begin the clean up and recovery process, restoring order and more healthy eating choices. And while we sweep, rinse, restore order and prevent bug infestations, I don’t want to throw out the baby with all the cleaning. Because Jesus’ birth isn’t merely for Christmas and then it’s over.
Jesus’ birth is a great reminder of many things that we’d be wise to continue cherishing in our daily living and pondering moments. While we clean up from Christmas, let’s keep these treasures readily accessible for our attention:
- Genuine love: no one expresses genuine love better than Jesus so it’s good to stay in His love which helps us stay loving.
- Pervasive peace: one of Jesus’ titles is the Prince of Peace. Having Jesus in our hearts can keep us peaceful inside when the world around us could be sheer chaos or deadly silence.
- All knowing: having wisdom in our daily living is essential, so looking to Jesus helps us have solutions for problems, answers for questions and provisions for needs.
- All powerful: reading through Jesus’ life in the Gospels gives me great assurance that nothing in my life is impossible for Him, including me!
- Ever present: maybe one of Jesus’ greatest Christmas presents to us is His presence and He never leaves nor forsakes us!
As we wrap up this Christmas season and begin to close out this year’s activities and responsibilities, let’s be sure to carry over Jesus’ life into our daily existence. We can do this by grabbing some time in the Bible (maybe read a Psalm per day or grab a daily Bible reading plan from a quick google search), making a playlist on our phone with our favorite Jesus songs, using red lights as reminders to look for Jesus when we’re driving, put a helpful Bible verse on the lock screen on your phone, make a pact with a friend to do daily reciprocal prayer for each other, join a small group at church and heaps more ways! Instead of a Christmas hangover, let’s have a Jesus carry over, being purposeful to find Jesus in meaningful ways throughout each day!
