Who or what sets the tone for your holidays?

A young woman approached Christmas when her life was in turmoil and the holiday frenzy just made it worse. Exhausted from cooking and shopping and decorating, she found that the pressures in her personal life threatened to push her over the edge. She threw up her hands in despair and went to seek comfort from a friend.

Does this sound like you? Have your preparations for Christmas already brought you to the point of wishing Christmas was over?

Perhaps we should take a hint from Paul’s letter to the Philippians. The tone of this most positive letter is thanksgiving and prayer.

“I thank my God every time I remember you. In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now.”

Have you ever had a life-long dream come true? Remember the overwhelming joy you felt. I will always remember what Greg said to me as we were leaving Wimbledon having watched a full day of tennis. He said, “It was great to share with me the fulfillment of a childhood dream.” Usually it was I who got to see the joy on his face when his dreams came true. On that day the situation was reversed he got to see the joy that was written all over my face. Paul was not filled with joy because a childhood dream came true. Paul wrote this letter from jail.

The reason Paul’s letter is filled with so much joy is that he realizes the knowledge of the truth and the love of Jesus that he taught them had been passed on and was growing in the hearts and lives of the Philippians. This joy caused him to give thanks and to continue to pray for God’s help, for an increase in love, and more strength for the Philippians.

“And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ – to the glory and praise of God.”

Wouldn’t this be a perfect Christmas prayer?

What better gift could you want for someone, but for their love to abound; for them to increase in knowledge and insight about God; for their life to be a reflection of purity and righteousness; so that God would be glorified.

Christmas is indeed a wonderful season of giving. It began with God giving us His Son Jesus who gave up His life for you and me. Christmas is a season identified by a spirit of generosity and love. We seem to have a more tender heart for the less fortunate. We think more about living in peace with one another. The truth is we don’t have to return to our old ways after Christmas. Paul’s prayer does not have to be limited only to the season of Christmas. The gifts of peace, love and joy which we strive to give at this time of the year does not have to be set aside on December 26th or January 1st. Let us resolve to hold on to the idea of setting the tone of thanksgiving and prayer for our lives. The only thing we have to lose is a world of violence, division and self-absorption. While we will gain back our lives.

What sets your tone in life? IS it the regrets of the past of the hopes of the future? Is it your failures or your accomplishments? IS it your passion for possessions or your passion for relationship? Ebenezer Scrooge is the perfect example of what happens in life when we carry yesterday’s hurts, disappointments, misguided decisions, and regrets. He is also an example that reminds us that who we are today doesn’t have to be who we will be tomorrow. As yesterday’s reading in our Advent devotional, “The Redeeming Light of Christ” reminds us how uncertain is our hold on life; this is a time of testing and training. Hold lightly onto your possessions so they do not possess you. Hold tightly onto people, especially the least one in whom we meet Christ now. Live in hope; the one who is coming at the end is the same one who came at Christmas.

What is it that sets our tone for living? Is it happiness? If it is then this is the perfect time of the year for you. The media is bombarding us with opportunity after opportunity to have happiness. There are trips abroad, get rich quick schemes, pills to take to alter what needs altering, and clothing that will make you look marvelous. Trust me your happiness will be short lived once January and February come around and the credit card bills start arriving. If you don’t want to trust me, then trust the stories of people who had all the monetary satisfaction anyone could ask for yet their marriages, families and lives are falling apart.

If past Christmases have taught us anything it should be that like the children’s shouts of glee and excitement as they tore through their Christmas presents happiness is only temporary. Like the gift, they just had to have which now sits on the shelf collecting dust our happiness has been shelved.

When you think that Paul wrote the joy filled letter to the Philippians from jail you have to wake up to the truth that true joy comes in seeking God. Be honest, if not with me but with yourself, are you ready for Christmas to be over? Have you already had your fill of Christmas? Don’t let the craziness of Christmas preparations set the tone. You set the tone. Don’t let the trappings of Christmas dictate your calendar. When you do the joy that Christmas brings will be the joy the holidays are over. How sad is that when we are glad when Christmas is over? It is the day we celebrate God’s gift to us of our salvation.
Spend some quiet time today with God. If you want lasting peace I suggest you let Paul’s attitude set the tone of Christmas preparations.

“I thank my God every time I remember you. In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now.”

“And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ – to the glory and praise of God.”