Sitting in a chair at the funeral home, Deacon Dick greeted us with joyful equilibrium. He'd had over sixty years with his wife and would have liked one year more. But, Deacon Dick told us, "I'm glad that God is God and we aren't God, because only God knows how things should be." My heart was touched and inspired by this man's faith. And his words made me wonder - how many times do we think that we are God, or that we should be God?
We try to do things our way, without asking God for the Holy Spirit's gifts of wisdom and love.
We become bitter - and stay bitter - because of something that has happened or someone who has died.
We lean on our own understanding of Scripture instead of consulting our Pastors or esteemed Scripture scholars.
We forget to thank God every single day for the gift of that day, and by this forgetting we don't acknowledge His Presence in our lives.
When we are physically and/or emotionally exhausted, it is so easy to fall into depression, to feel overwhelmed, to feel that we can't keep going, and that God has let us down. That is why our free will is so important. At those times when we are most tried and tempted, when we feel farthest from God, we can still choose to speak to God, over and over again:
"My God, I trust you."
"Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the Living God, have mercy on me a sinner." "Come Holy Spirit and enlighten me and with Your grace strengthen me." Every one of these little prayers sends a ray of light into our souls, a ray of peace, of strengthening, of hope. Every one of these little prayers helps us to let go of the illusion that we are God and we can do it all alone. Every one of these little prayers is our choice to trust God, to lean not on our own understanding, to watch and be vigilant for the ways in which He seeks to direct our paths.
As we drove to and from the funeral parlor in the almost-palpable deep dark, so many houses, once festooned with Christmas lights, sat darkened and isolated in the frigid night. Yes, for the rest of the world that only knows Christmas as a great present-fest, a shopping burden, Christmas is over and many are glad indeed.
But for Christians, Christmas BEGAN on December twenty-fifth and continues on until January eleventh, the Feast of the Baptism of Our Lord, when we begin to celebrate the season of Jesus' ministry. The ancient Christmas season ended on February second, Candlemas day, or the Presentation of our Lord in the Temple. We have a perfect right to leave our lights on because we continue to carry the Christ Child, the Light of the World, in the creche of our hearts. Christmas is the Feast that never ends for us because even in bitterest inner darkness, we can continue to trust in the One Who came to light the way for us and direct our paths forever.