Christmas is my favorite time of the year.
I grew up in the northern part of Wisconsin, and my most valuable and tenderest recollections are my Christmases. I was raised in a Norwegian Lutheran church, (Think: Lutefisk.). Many memories flow from that; the cold, the snow and the tree, and the presents. I’m a ‘wealthy’ man through all of these great memories.
Even when it was really hard, it was still very good.
I remember our annual Nativity play at Church. I fondly remember the sticky, caramel-covered ‘popcorn ball’ each one of us would get from the church ladies’ aid. I also remember a very bleak Christmas when there was no money to be had for presents. I will always remember how a local charity came through at the last minute with gifts. I was profoundly touched by all of this, and more.
But I have no real way of instilling any of this in you.
However, I do exhort you to go out of your way to minister to the young hearts you have contact with. Help them believe. Make it easy for them to touch the miracle of the manger. Let them leave your company yearning for God’s presence in their day.
It won’t take much, maybe keen imagination on your part and humble prayer. But those things you do may spark, ignite and become a blaze that will direct them through their lives. Be kinder than you need to be. Purposefully do something that will impact them, even small things often carry an astonishingly strong influence.
You may be in the thick of it. But be kinder than you need to be.
Just maybe you have lost the purpose and meaning of this day. But I’m pretty sure any failure isn’t permanent. At least, try to do as much as you’re able. All it takes is a tiny spark to become a blaze.
“It is good to be children sometimes, and never better than at Christmas, when its mighty Founder was a child Himself.”
– Charles Dickens
A Lutefisk History – Lutefisk Recipe
Broken Believers 