Making Peace at Christmas

I passed a couple who were pulled over in their car yesterday, they were having a full on barney and at least were sensible enough not to fight and drive, shortly after the four wheel drive in the lane next to  me nearly ran up the car in the front's backside because he was yelling at his kids in the back.  The little boy closest to me turned and looked forlornly out of the window.  I thought here we are, silly season has arrived.  The rushing, spending and shoving that we get caught up in, taking it out on everyone within the blast radius until we finally arrive hot and frazzled at Christmas lunch,

and explode all over the relatives we don't see from one year till the next.  Kind of makes me wonder if this really captures what God had in mind when he out of His great love for mankind sent his only very loved Son into the World to save us, and saving us is exactly what we need.  The good news the angels declared was peace, and yet when we look around there is little peace on the outside, someone once told me that at any one time there is at least 25 wars in progress, somewhere on the planet, so world peace is probably not what Jesus was talking about.  It is hard to get two people to agree on anything, so getting 7 billion of us to is probably out of the question.  But, if I can encourage you to just stop for a moment, and take a deep breathe.  Allowing God's love into our life changes us on the inside, and while we may never see the 'World Peace' the beauty pageant winners are talking about, you will have the peace that the Angels were talking about at that first Christmas, so long ago to the Shepherds, that peace that comes on the inside and passes all understanding, that makes you be able to move about calmly in the middle of the chaos, and hopefully be able to share that peace and love with the next frazzled person who asks you why you are calm and not going crazy like the other mortals.  God bless you this Christmas, and remember, the next time you are tempted to do more than you are physically capable of right now, remind yourself that we are celebrating Christ's birthday and that He wont care if you buy fruit mince pies instead of baking them yourself.  Merry Christmas xx Evie

The Reason for the Season

I had fun on Saturday afternoon putting up my Christmas tree alone with Michael Buble' playing away in the background.  The Man of the House who will subsequently will be referred to as Moth wasn't keen to thread ribbon through a tree.  Anyway I came across some little red apples and tartan ribbon while sifting through the baubles and had a moment of nostalgia as I remembered that Christmas many years ago with two young children at the time and not a lot of decorating budget I clad the tree from top to toe with the little red apples (about 20 for $1) and tartan ribbon bows (the wooden duck on the coffee table also got a bow).

 It made me realise how our situation has changed over the years and how I have changed also.  My taste has developed with age and the elegant tree I have now is a far cry from its cheap and cheerful but loved at the time cousin from years ago.

 I don't like a lot of the same things I liked years ago, or think the same about life as I did years ago, with age and the help of God's love in my own life I can try to accept that other people can change too and not hold things against them from a time when they may have been different than they are now.  Christmas is all about forgiveness, it is a good time to invite forgiveness into your life, forgiveness for those that have hurt you, forgiveness for yourself if you have hurt others and asking them to forgive you.    I realise that much of the change that has happened to me is because God's love has changed me, and I would hope you would allow Him to heal hurts in your life, but even if you have never had an encounter with the Reason for this Season, Jesus, forgiveness still works.  Harbouring things eats us up, forgiving releases us.  Some wrongs are really bad and hard to forget, but we can only do our bit, by letting the hurt go and leave it up to God to sort the other person out.  Have a wonderful day!