Don't Sweat the Small Things
Do you do Christmas cards each year? We do. Technology makes it so easy these days. We go online, pick a format, upload a few pictures, and have them printed. Often the hardest thing is figuring out what to say on the card. This year, we decided on a bible verse. Easy. Done. Well when we got our cards back, the pictures looked good, the colors were fine, but we found there was a typo in the scripture verse. It turns out, we had written it incorrectly. Ahhh! If you look at the picture of the card, you'll notice the phrase "great joy" repeated twice. And it's like that on all 125 cards :)! We thought, what should we do? Should we get them reprinted? Should we do something different? Should we try to fix them all one-by-one?
Christmas is meant to be an uplifting time where we celebrate the birth of our Lord and Savior! But sometimes I think we have unrealistic expectations for it all. We want to find the perfect gift for everyone. We want to find the perfect tree for the living room. We want to have the perfect Christmas card. We want to make the perfect arrangements for Christmas day. These are all things we've already had angst over in our house the past couple of weeks. Sometimes these things fall into place but often we run into “"typos” and mishaps with our plans. Add things like traffic, weather, miscommunication, etc. and we're bound to run into problems. Aren't we? So here's my simple Christmas thought: as much as possible, try not to sweat the small things that may come up: the underwhelming gift, the botched dish, the traffic on the freeway, etc. Don't let these things steal your joy at Christmas. All of these things will come and go. Focus on what's most important.
As the angel said in Luke 2:10-11 "Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord." That's what we meant to say on our Christmas card. Maybe next year we'll get it right. Christmas is a season of good news and great joy all wrapped into the birth of Jesus. Our Lord and Savior was born on Christmas day! Place your focus on Him. Experience the joy He brings. Have a Merry Christmas!
Pastor Darren
