"The holidays can be a very unfulfilling time can't they? Most of us begin with "great expectations," that somehow inevitably take a major dive. Yet, every year we seem to build those great expectations hoping life will be better this time.
Obviously this year is no exception, yesterday my husband of almost 30 years told me I was a "selfish, self centered B (I'll let you finish that word.)" He went on to say, "Last year we brought you home from the hospital after your surgery. This year we have to go through chemo treatments with you. You just ruin every holiday anymore."
I really had nothing to say to that. I put my straw hat, pulled it down in hopes that no one would see me cry and went outside to pull weeds. Frankly, I will be glad when I don't have to endure anymore of these, "Merry Christmases or Thanksgiving" on earth. Even my excitement about Heidi's return has been squashed like a bug. She'd rather be spending her holidays in Italy with her friends. Pulling weeds and a good cry helped me put life back into perspective.
Imagine how God feels when His family fails over and over again. Through all that He keeps loving and guiding us, wow, now that's true love. What a great example of parenting! Yet I know He has limits too.
"The lord was grieved that He had made man on earth, and His heart was filled with pain. So the Lord said I will wipe mankind from the face of the earth-men, animals, and creatures that move along the ground, and the birds of the air for I am grieved that I have made them. But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord."
Genesis 6:6-8 (NIV)
All through the Bible right to the end He keeps trying and we keep failing. Sometimes He even gets frustrated with His chosen people in Jerusalem.
"You have rejected me," declares the Lord.
"You keep on backsliding." So I will lay hands on you and destroy you; I can no longer show you compassion." Jeremiah 15:6 (NIV)
I was talking to a close friend the other day. She asked if I remembered the pictures of Jesus carrying around a lamb. Sure I do that was one of my favorite pictures I remember in our church down stairs, maybe in a Sunday school room. She said the reason Shepard's carry those little lost sheep around is because the Shepard broke it's leg. It is better for the Shepard to break it's leg and carry it than constantly have to wonder off leaving the fold, to find the wondering one. By the time the wandering sheep's leg heals that sheep always wants to stay close to the Shepard. Besides saving him from the wolves the shepard has personally fed and cared for the straying lamb.
Aren't we often referred to as God's sheep? Do the trials in life bring you closer, or push you farther from God? It depends on your spirit, doesn't it?
Finally consider Hebrews chapter 12, read the whole thing for yourself. The day will come when God shakes the whole heaven and earth-so that what can not be shaken remains. (Faith, Love, Hope, God, our security in Christ... you know the things that can not be bought or made by man's hands only through God's love in us.)
"Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that can not be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire." Hebrews 12:28 (NIV)
Maybe it's better that "family gatherings" aren't the "beloved events" we hoped for. We need to get our hearts and minds back on the One who really loves cares and is in control of our best interest at heart. We have an Awesome God who loves us enough to die and rise for us, that we might enjoy eternal life with Him.
