BUILDING TRIDITIONS

BUILDING TRADITIONS

Christmas 2011 will be different for us.  In the 27 years that Keva and I have been married we have always had someone in our house at Christmas.  Chris and Derek were there in the early years.  We have DVD's of multiple Christmas mornings as Derek comes out of his bedroom, his hair standing straight up on his head, scratching his butt and his underwear dragging. Chris too cool to be excited and acting like he could care less but quickly tearing open his packages and enjoying the day. 

After they left home somehow Granny ended up with us.  Even in the years when she could still take care of herself and the boys were still at home she would come down and share the holidays with us. 

Over the last 5 or 6 years that she has lived with us Christmas has been handled just like she was a little kid.  Santa would come and leave her gifts in her spot under the tree and she would ooh and aah at the little stuff she would get. 

But this year Granny got her Christmas gift early.  The spenders that she is experiencing this year are greater than any of us can ever imagine this side of heaven, and honestly, as much as I miss her, I wouldn't bring her back here if I had the power.  She is home and I am so thankful and glad. 

But that puts Keva and I plowing new ground for Christmas. 

What do we do and how do we do it? 

Well, as Captain of this ship I made an executive decision that we would begin some new traditions this year.  We will not sit here and contemplate how things once were and how we miss those who are not here.  We will do new things, in new ways and build traditions that will hopefully last us until we go home. 

But how does one begin to build a tradition? Well, the solution certainly was not in my muddled mind nor could I find any help from those I asked.  But as I sat at the breakfast table this morning studying the writings of the shepherd King David, the following idea came to me. See what you think.

Christmas is the day we celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.  Someone, somewhere decided that we would celebrate this wonderful miraculous occurrence on December the 25th. So each December 25th we celebrate His birthday by getting gifts for ourselves.  I'm glad people don't celebrate my birthday that way. It would be pretty crappy if each July 9th you all gave each other gifts and I didn't get anything at all. 

So this year in the Collum house we will celebrate the birth of Jesus by each of us giving Him a present.  We will each pray about what we will give to Jesus this year and then we will wrap a token of that gift in a nice Christmas package.  

I will make a few suggestions just to give you an idea of what I mean.   

• One might offer to the Christ child his health.  All the year long he or she will make a conscious effort to take care of their body.  Eating right, exercising, getting enough sleep and working hard.  Presenting your body a living sacrifice to Him.
• Another suggestion might be to give your service to Him.  Following the example of Matthew 25:40 determining that "in as much as you have done it unto one of the least of these you have done it unto me".
• You might give your work to Him.  Making an effort to do all things that you do whether building, teaching, selling, serving as done unto Him. 
• You mind would be a good gift.  Romans 12:2 says that we should not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the "renewing of our minds".

Oh, I know, all these things should be His anyway.  When I knelt and gave Him my all, all of these things were in the package but if you are like me you forget sometimes.  Sometimes you might just need to go back to the Mesoboth and ask " why did I place these stone here", "what do these stones mean"?

I intend to make Christmas morning that time.  So this year around our artificial, Wal-mart tree, surrounded by a bunch of Granny's old teddy bears, with the stocking of our entire growing family hanging from the doorway and a miniature mountain of wrapping paper in the floor, Keva and I will unwrap our gifts to baby Jesus. 

I will carry that token in my pocket, hang it on the mirror of my truck, stick it to the refrigerator or in someway be reminded of it each day. 

I hope Jesus likes what I've got Him for Christmas this year.  I hope He will realize that I put some thought into it.  I intend to make a tradition out of this.  I hope for every Christmas from this point on, I will give Jesus the best gift I can offer.