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.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Holland Creme - That Amazing White Stuff In Donuts

Image
I remember going to the grocery store every Saturday morning when I was growing up, and my favorite place in the entire store was the donut case. All the glazed, powdered and filled baked goods drew me like a magnet. My favorites, far and away, were the ones filled with that beautiful white, fluffy creme. At the time I didn't know it was called Holland Creme - I just knew it was the most amazing concoction ever. Ever. Here is my version of this sweet treat. You can make your own fried donuts and fill them, or like I did here, you can cut a crevice into store-bought donuts with a knife and fill them with creme in a piping bag. Either way, you're going to love it. Ingredients: 1 cup sugar 1/2 cup water 1 cup vegetable oil 1 cup shortening 1 cup butter 1 Tbsp vanilla 7 cups powdered sugar 1. Make a simple syrup by combining sugar and water in a sauce pan over medium heat until boiling, stirring until sugar is dissolved. Remove from heat and allow to cool complet...
Read more

Recovering An Old Card Table And Making It Usable Again

Image
This card table recover project has been on my to-do list for months. I've been using it as my workspace in the craft room for quite some time, and it sees a lot of abuse. Here it is now, with a neutral cover on it so I can take better pictures for my tutorials. There were dents and dings in the old blue covering from metal tools. And yes, I've used my embossing heat tool on it several times, leaving pretty good scars. The padding underneath the blue cover also made it difficult to keep paper crafts flat when adhering them together, so it was time for something new. That's where a simple vinyl tablecloth comes in handy. The process to recover the table is pretty simple, but I learned a couple of lessons the hard way. I share them with you now. First, don't do this on any surface but a carpet. I tried it on the deck int he sunshine to get better pictures, but all it did was tear up the cover. Second, get a second pair of hands to help you kee...
Read more

Crafts For Teen Girls To Make

Image
In our teen girls Bible study, we're studying our way through the Proverbs 31 woman and it's been such a blessing to me, as I hope it's been to them. Every month we spend an afternoon or an evening together studying Scripture, making something amazing in the kitchen and creating something that corresponds to the verse we're in. Choosing the crafts each time can be a challenge for several reasons. It needs to be something they can completely finish (or do most of) because once they leave they're probably not going to work on it themselves - that's just the nature of teenagers. Remember? It also needs to be a project that keeps they're attention, is age-appropriate and is cool enough that they'll want to keep it or give it to someone special. But hey, no pressure on the Bible study leader, right? Here are just a few of the projects we've done together in the year we've been meeting. * This month's craft will be the adorable cross stit...
Read more