Opportunity

Opportunity   

               As I composed this blog post for “Sharing Glory,” TV and radio announcers reminded me that I have only a few days left to shop for Christmas gifts. 

            Christmas gifts are an aspect of preparing for Christmas, but there is more to this time—preparing our hearts to accept God’s gift of love.  During this Advent, my mind has wondered about Joseph and Mary’s journey from Nazareth to Bethlehem, so I Googled and found an LA Times archived article.  This article states the journey would have been 90 miles long, but because of Mary’s pregnancy and the uphill/downhill aspects of the journey, they traveled only 10 miles a day.

            But, according to the article, the worst aspects of the journey were the bandits and the wild animals; such as lions, bears and boars, which inhabited the forest along the Jordan River.  And it wasn’t a warm journey; temps often dipped below freezing at night.

            Nor were there any McDonald’s to stop at along the way for food.  The two carried bread with them, but when they arrived in Bethlehem, they didn’t check into a Marriott with an attached hotel restaurant.  Instead, they found room in a stable, probably with other “guests” who also couldn’t find accommodations elsewhere, and with donkeys and sheep.

            There in a smelly, dirty stable Christ was born.  This is food for thought.

            That first Christmas was observed by other guests in the stable, angels, shepherds, and animals.  Today many of us are able to celebrate Christ’s birth with loving friends, family and food. 

            Continuing my thoughts, I realize Christ’s gift of love of entering this world includes his setting an example for us on to how to live in humility and love.

            I think that includes loving ourselves, yet we have too much of a tendency to beat ourselves up if/when we overeat.  Maybe it’s time for us to accept this personality trait of ours—our love of food, our tendency to use food for comfort and see it as “opportunity,” an opportunity for Christ to work in our lives, an opportunity for us to depend upon God’s strength rather than our own (James 1:2-4).

            So this Christmas season, let us gift ourselves with loving ourselves as God made us.

            Gloria and I wish you, our readers, a Christmas filled with Christ’s love and a Blessed New Year.

                                                                                                                                    Sharon Witty