We all know that as we approach the holiday season things seem to suddenly become hectic. Being a student, employee and being an individual involved in many extracurricular activities, I understand this quite well. However, all of the "to do's" are things I love to do. Because I have a desire for these things, it has become easy to fit them onto my “daily tasks list”. The trouble with the holiday season comes when we don’t make time to “fit in” the necessary components of living a Christian life. Personally, my daily bible study and quiet time is usually the thing I move to the very bottom of my list in the midst of the holiday season. I am a planner at heart. I spend most of my time planning for the future, rather than living in the here and now. Because of this, when I have an unexpected task added to my “daily tasks list” I often shove my bible study to the side and I replace that time with the unexpected event. Although this seems minor, it is yet again another setback in living a life that is permeated by God. What I mean by this, is that our lives have different levels to them, almost like an office building in NYC. The very top level usually holds what is most important to the company. The very top of our spiritual office buildings may include our faith, family, and friends. As the levels decrease and get closer to a street level they hold rooms including passions like art or soccer. However, whether the top floor or lobby that office building still belongs to the owner of the company. The same is true in our daily lives. Our spiritual office buildings are maintained by us but are “owned” essentially by God. As the maintenance crew of our spiritual office building, it is our job to clean every floor, every room, and every corner to give honor and glory to God. And because we honor Him and love Him, we allow his name to permeate through our building, and our lives, to honor him. Our spiritual lives are like trees. Some of us are trees that thrive in the spring. We experience growth and renewing, and because of this, we become alive. We continue to thrive throughout summer and then towards the fall we begin to change. Maybe our life becomes changed in some way or another and we experience a setback. Then winter strikes. Cold weather causes us to lose our faith and hope and we become lifeless. And the cycle continues spiraling into a continuous whirlwind of faith and lack of faith. However; we should aspire to be Evergreen trees. Trees that remain throughout all seasons. Trees that produce fruit… or pinecones… throughout their whole life. A long time ago, a prophecy was fulfilled when Jesus was born of The Virgin Mary. The reason Christmas is celebrated is not because of presents, or Santa, or even praising God that final exams are over. Christmas is celebrated because it is the beginning of a new era. An Era when Jesus, God’s only Son, walked where we have walked and experienced things we experience on a daily basis. Christmas is celebrated because due to this gift of life, he later could die for our sins and save us from eternal separation from God. So as we decorate our Christmas trees, as we sing Christmas carols, and as we go about this hustling, bustling season- I ask that you take just a couple of moments to reflect on all that God has blessed you with and find your “Reason in the Midst of “Tis the Season”.
