One of my favourite Christmas pastimes is storytelling. Truth be advised, I like to inform tales all yr lengthy, however Christmas simply lends itself simply to storytelling. We bear in mind previous traditions handed down from our households of origin: How we at all times get the tree the day after Thanksgiving, or how we make tamales for Christmas, or the truth that we at all times learn Luke chapter 2 earlier than we open presents.
We additionally bear in mind tales that aren’t excellent. My husband and I share tales from our childhood, when Christmas was easy. Money was tight. Perhaps we shared a gift with our siblings, or perhaps final-minute, our neighbors invited us to a Christmas meal. We don’t anticipate having hardships like this once more, however one by no means is aware of. We inform these tales to remind ourselves to be grateful. We inform them so our youngsters know that even when issues are onerous, we will get via them. We additionally inform these tales to level out how God has been current in our private historical past.
In Deuteronomy chapter 11, God tells the Israelites to repair his phrases of their hearts and minds. That Scripture would at all times be earlier than them as they walked down the highway, as they laid down for sleep, and after they acquired up within the morning. God reminds the Israelites to inform the tales of his provision to their youngsters. These had been Hebrew youngsters who hadn’t skilled the unique Passover or the parting of the Red Sea or might not have identified why they had been consuming manna and quail day by day. God advised the Hebrew dad and mom to share these tales with their youngsters in order that they’d know of God’s provision and goodness.
Christmas is a straightforward time to indicate how God is current in our previous and current. We inform the tales of God’s presence within the historical past of the earth. We place ourselves in that story usually as we sing songs of Jesus’ beginning and browse the Scriptures. We additionally inform the tales of God’s presence in our personal lives. Each decoration, cookie recipe, and ritual highlights a narrative about God’s goodness and love in our lives. Stories of our final Christmas with Grandpa or how Grandma made these angel ornaments for each new grandchild spotlight what sort of folks they had been and the way they confirmed us glimmers of the traits of God, as a result of they knew and cherished him.
God is alive and energetic, not simply at Christmas, however day by day. May Christmas storytelling practice our hearts to search out him current the remainder of the yr.
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