A Perfect Holiday Celebration

It was said that Norman Rockwell painted happiness, but did not live it.  There are no trouble free lives.  The pilgrims’ first act upon landing at Plymouth was to steal the new neighbor’s winter stockpile of corn.  There are no perfect holiday guests.  Even as we scan the history of the Bible we can find no perfect families.  Yet, most of us approach the holidays with a guarded hope that perhaps this year will bring the ideal celebration we long for.

 This year let’s school our expectation and approach the holidays another way.  Let’s check those holiday celebration expectations and face facts.  We are incapable of stringing together the required minutes of good behavior.  So let’s relax and prepare by praying for our family and friends. We can ask the Holy Spirit to allow us to see them as he does. 

 We can decide to give them gifts of grace.  We can take a break from judging the brother who has made destructive life choices.  We can be kind to the distracted sister and tenderhearted toward her annoying children.  We can listen to parents and children and see them as they are becoming, rather than who they have always been. With His perspective we can enjoy this celebration, and the people God has given us to love.  In His strength we can look beyond faults to see needs.  We cannot fix these people any more than we can fix ourselves.  But perhaps with a loving perspective we will better serve the one who can fix willing sinners.

 Our expectations are not wrong they are just premature.  God has put it in our hearts to long for the perfect celebration.  The one we desire is described in Isaiah 25 and takes place in the new creation. It is the wedding feast of Christ and the Church. It is lavish, long lasting, and everyone gets along. We long for it because we have already received the invitation. So, we can take heart and decide to enjoy the folks that God has given us with whom to love and grow.  Enjoy the birthday celebration and look to the future; we’re invited to the wedding.