Merry Day After Christmas! Now What?

I pray that your Christmas weekend was filled with celebration, time with loved ones and worship with your church family. This Advent and Christmas have been very different than any of the past few years, and it is my wish that you've created some new traditions and memories that you will remember forever.

But now it's Monday. The day after Christmas. What are we supposed to do now? Do we go back to the way we were before? Is it just another work day? I hope not.

It's easy to look back at the Christmas season, wistfully sigh that it's past and forge on to the end of the year. We pack up decorations, file away our Christmas cards and start planning our New Year's Eve party. All the hope, joy and peace of Advent can get wrapped in tissue paper and stored for several months, if we're not careful.

This isn't how it's supposed to be. We're supposed to come out the other side of Christmas ... well, different.

And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid. And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. Luke 2:8-11

I guarantee you that the shepherds returned from the stable as changed men. They had a face-to-face meeting with the Savior of the world, even if He was just a newborn. No one has a personal encounter with Christ and remains unchanged. That's the power of our Lord. The shepherds saw angels, met the Christ child and went back to the fields praising God with all their hearts. They were changed.

My challenge for each of us, myself included, is that today will be a day of celebration as well. Just because the season ends doesn't mean the worship and adoration of the King has to stop. It's not a switch we flip on and off depending on the time of year. Let's make the day after Christmas be the same kind of special that the past four weeks have been - filled with hope and anticipation, now for Christ's second coming just like His first. This is my prayer for you today, tomorrow and until the next Advent season.

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