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Christmas is Over. Now What Do We Do With Jesus?

January 5, 2024 by Lauren 4 Comments

Hi!  It’s been a minute.  We have celebrated multiple holidays since my last post and I hope they were a joy to you.  And if not, I pray that God will comfort you in your grief or disappointment.  My celebrations included both, but also many, many sweet times.  But now that a new year is in progress, I’m left to ponder where we have been and where we are going.  This is nothing new for many of us as the calendar turns over.  But I’m not talking about resolutions or restarts. 

Now that Christmas is over, I want to know what we do with Jesus?

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Maybe you have been walking with Jesus for a long time.  Or maybe your knowledge is limited.  But what struck me during the shopping and revelry is how much of the world celebrates baby Jesus (whether they know it or not).  Mainstream movies (ok, Hallmark movies.  Don’t judge.) feature religious Christmas carols and church services.  And people who don’t regularly attend church show up for the ritual or the story of the Christ child.

 

That baby Jesus feels meek and mild.  It’s even in the songs!  I will venture to say He feels harmless to us.  No threat.  It doesn’t cost us much to praise a tiny baby.  Celebrating the birth of that baby with the beautiful story of the stable and the manger is easy.  But once the nativity sets are packed away (ok, ALL of my decorations aren’t put away yet), do we still think about Him?

 

What Do We Do Now that Christmas is Over?

 

At Christmas it’s easy to imagine Jesus enshrined as a baby forever.  But nothing could be farther from the truth.  Jesus grew into a man who was both worshipped and despised.  He lived a sinless life – so hard for us to understand – and died an agonizing death on a cross as punishment for OUR sins.  He made a way for us to have relationship with our holy God.  And because of all He has done, He demands our ALL.  Our obedience, our allegiance, our surrender, our lives.

 

Whoa, whoa, whoa!  This is not what we think about when we light a candle and sing about “the little Lord Jesus asleep on the hay”!  But even that lyric from “Away in a Manger” holds a key word.  “Lord”.  Are we truly willing to make Him Lord of us?  That means putting aside our wants and desires for His.  Seeking His glory and renown and not our own.  Loving Him through obedience to His Word.  Even the parts we may not like.  It means being counter-cultural.  Even if we look foolish to those around us.

 

Are you ready for that kind of sacrifice?  Maybe instead of setting goals for 2024 that we probably won’t keep (just being a realist), it might be time to examine our commitment to Jesus.  It was pretty easy to celebrate baby Jesus in December.  But are you ready to worship King Jesus all year long?

 

Scripture

 

“For by[a] him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. 17 And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together.”  Col. 1:16-17 ESV

 

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Do We Have to Ditch December?

December 30, 2022 by Lauren 6 Comments

DecemberChristmas dork.  That’s what my family affectionately calls me.  At least I choose to believe it’s affectionate and not mocking, anyway.  I don’t believe anything is quite so magical as twinkling lights and I love the decorations in my house.  I pick out coordinating rolls of wrapping paper and cover the floor under the tree in festive colors and ribbons.  The music, the traditions, sweet movies and time with family all have me asking,

“Do we have to ditch December”?  Every year I dread the post-holiday let-down.  I don’t have a blue Christmas, it’s a blue January in this house.

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So hang tight while I relive the last 30 days.  I’ll start with Christmas on 5th.  My daughter was invited to Baylor University for a tour and meet and greet with other upcoming Freshmen.  We decided to drive down the night before to attend the school’s annual Christmas tree lighting, concert and other festivities.  Allie connected with a few friends who already attend school there and stayed the night in a dorm while I called an old friend and spent the evening with her and her family.December

 

The next day we met students and professors at Top Golf for good eats, fun and networking.  Baylor knows how to court students and I so enjoyed being at my alma mater and spending time with my girl.  Afterward we rushed back to get her to theater rehearsal.

 

The Gift of Family

 

The first Saturday of the month we hung out with our nieces to give my sister and her husband a date night.  Chuck and I took them and Shelby to a Christmas light drone show on Main Street.  You may not know this, but I live in the self-proclaimed Christmas Capital of Texas.  Pretty fitting, I know.  We played games and tried the new peppermint Frosty at Wendy’s.  And all the while Allie delivered singing Christmas cards with her jazz choir.

 

Speaking of choir and nieces, we went to see two of mine sing in concerts at their school and enjoyed both nights of Allie’s Winter Wonderland themed concert at her school.  So many family and friends came to support her.  The hubs and I could not be more proud of her talent – among other things.  And at the end of the weekend the jazz ensembles from her school entertained at the annual party for the senior citizens from the city recreation center where I work.  Same songs.  Equal enjoyment every time.  And in between all these shows I got Shelby to see Santa Claus.  She was struggling with some seizure activity so I didn’t get a great photo, but she still lit up at the prospect of seeing her “Claus”.

 

A bigger seizure kept me from being at a Life Group brunch on time a few days later, but she recovered beautifully to attend a Best Buddies party with her sister.  Where she again got to visit “Claus”.

 

Mid-December

 

About mid month I tried to separate my pinkie toe from the rest of my foot on a piece of furniture in the middle of the night.  This had me hobbling and elevating for a few days.  My supervisors at work were kind enough to allow me to wear house shoes for a shift.  It was Christmas sweater day and my holiday slippers did match the reindeers on my sweater.  So there’s that.

 

We ate BBQ and opened gifts with my family on the 21st since I was hosting my husband’s family the 23rd and 24th.  In between I watched my Baylor Bears play a disappointing bowl game.  And that’s all I’ll say about that.

 

 

Chuck’s brother and sister-in-law plus their 3 year old Dylan stayed at our house and my father-in-law stayed close by.  Unfortunately, Chuck’s mom got sick and had to stay home.  My other brother-in-law and sister-in-law came over with their kids on Saturday and we ate, played games and enjoyed each other’s company.  We also snuck in a Christmas Eve service.  I always love our church but service always feels a little more magical on Christmas Eve.

 

The Pinnacle of December

 

For the second year in a row we spent the entirety of Christmas day in the car.  Not fun, but my bonus son and grandkids are on the end of that drive.  So it’s well worth it.  The girls and I only got to stay in Colorado for 2 days so we could get Allie back home for the Passion Conference.  Chuck stayed the rest of the week to help his son with childcare and flies back home tomorrow.

 

Tomorrow evening we host PJ New Year’s Eve.  It’s a semi annual tradition for us and some friends and neighbors.  None of us really want to go out on NYE, but neither do we want to do nothing.  So we all wear our pajamas, eat, play games and call it a night early.  Can’t wait!

 

I pray you have something to look forward to soon as well.  And I want to offer my deep gratitude that you have shared your time with me this year.  You will never know how much it means to me that you take the time to read.  As always, I thank you, I love you and I hope 2023 treats you well.

 

 

And now for this week’s featured post from the link up!

 

Just in case you set a reading goal for the new year, I wanted to highlight Grace and Truth’s own Lisa Burgess.  She gave us her 20 favorite books of 2022.  10 fiction and 10 non-fiction.  So there’s something for everyone!

 

The Link Up

1. Share 1 or 2 of your most recent CHRISTIAN LIVING posts. (No DIY, crafts, recipes, or inappropriate articles.) All links are randomly sorted.

2. Comment on 1 or 2 other links. Grace & Truth linkup encourages community.

3. Every host features one entry from the previous week. To be featured, include this button or link back here on your post (mandatory to be featured, but not to participate).

Grace and Truth_Meet Hosts

We encourage you to follow our hosts on their blogs or social media.

MAREE DEE – Embracing the Unexpected
Blog | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Pinterest

LAUREN SPARKS
Blog | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Pinterest

LISA BURGESS – Lisa notes
Blog | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Pinterest

TAMMY KENNINGTON – Restoring hope. Pursuing peace.
Blog | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Pinterest

 Now Let’s Link Up!

 

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

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About Me

I love Jesus, my husband and caffeine. The order of these can change depending on how tired I am. When my two daughters, stepson, and 4 grandchildren get to be too much, I practice yoga. God graciously allows me to share our adventures, victories and flub-ups from my laptop. May He be glorified here.
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