Aluminm Christmas Tree

It is late November but the snow has already come. We have begun hanging Christmas decorations at my house. I was thinking about my grandparent’s aluminum Christmas (no that is not my grandma in the photo). My grandparents have a reputation of being frugal...to the extreme (some might even say cheap) and they have had the same artificial tree for decades. For many years it was even a joke among their children (but never their grandchildren of course). Imagine the surprise when this tree began to show up in very trendy decor magazines. Apparently it is now retro, extremely trendy and sought after by those in the know about fashion and decor trends. Now those who were laughing wish they had the tree! It reminded me of a phrase I recently read in Ecclesiastes, “What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the son.” (Ecclesiastes 1:9) He was speaking about more than artificial Christmas trees and decor, of course, but there is a similar observation to be made. After looking at the world the writer observes endless and apparently meaningless cycles found in nature and history (1:3-11). Think of human nature for example, have greed or pride really changed over the last few thousand years? I don’t claim to have fully grasped all the complexity of Ecclesiastes, but what I have begun to see is that life, when seen from a strictly earthly perspective, is meaningless and futile. Hopefully, however, we don’t just settle for this earthly perspective, but rather look to the supernatural. It is a relationship with God that brings the hope to transcend the cycles, to find purpose and meaning. As we prepare to enter the Christmas season, hopefully we will take pause to consider the Lord for whom the celebrations are supposed to be about, and consider what He means to our life.

Easy-Bake Oven

My niece came to the hospital a few days ago to visit my son. Seeing as Christmas is approaching the conversation turned to what people were asking for for Christmas. My niece said that she wanted an Easy-Bake Oven. These toys have been around since 1963 and are apparently still popular today. I remember reading something about the name Easy-Bake and that it was originally named a Safety-Bake oven but television broadcasters were not convinced about its safety and that prompted a name change. I remember thinking that if there were safety concerns, shouldn't they have suggested changing more than just the name? Now I don’t know if this story is true or not (and there have been many new models between 1963 and 2008 so don't let this blog affect your Christmas shopping) but it did get me thinking about honesty, integrity and truthfulness. I am sure that many of us look at advertising or politics for example and think that, although technically the truth is told, that there is a least some duplicity or integrity issues at play. The “truth” being told is carefully sculpted and crafted. If, however, we were to honestly asses our own actions and words, we are often tempted to do much the same. We can massage the truth to our own benefit or to avoid trouble, tell half truths or perhaps tell the “little white” lie. Jesus, however, encouraged us to simply let our yes be yes and our no be no (Matthew 5:37). Jesus gave this teaching in the context of a discussion about swearing oaths. I think that what he was getting at is that should we aim to be truthful people and aim for truthfulness in every word there would be no need for swearing oaths, or making special declarations to guarantee truthfulness. He was challenging us to be truthful people full of honesty and integrity. It may not be easy, but it is a worthy pursuit. Can people trust us to tell the truth? Can they trust us to tell it like it is in a loving compassionate manner? Can they trust us not to hide things in fine print? Can they trust us to have integrity?

Memory

I remember playing the game of memory when I was a kid. The game consisted of a number of picture tiles, two of each, that were mixed up and then placed in a grid upside down. Each turn, a player is allowed to turn over two tiles revealing the picture, with the intent to find two matching tiles. As the game progresses each player watches intently, trying to learn where each tile is placed, memorizing the position of the matches so that they may be found on the next turn. As I sit here in the hospital with my son who is recovering from one surgery and preparing for another, I have been reminded about how important scripture is. It has helped us to celebrate the good moments, to trust in the harder moments and given much comfort in the painful moments. The thing about life is that it often happens unexpectedly, without much notification and without a lot of opportunity for preparation. I think that is why it is so important to be in God’s word regularly. As we spend time reading, learning and studying scripture we become familiar with it. Like in the game of memory, we begin to recall where things are found, and when life situation arise we can find applicable passages. In all honesty, however, nothing can replace memorizing scripture. We may not always have access to a written copy of the Word, and life usually doesn’t stop while we try to find one. Memorized scripture, however, will always be with us and it is amazing how it comes back when needed. I am the first to admit that I am not the best at memorizing scripture and have not invested as much time in this discipline as others. My children, who have joined a bible quizzing team and have been memorizing huge chunks of scripture, have been an example and a challenge to me of late. If they can learn so much, surely I can do some myself. At the end of the day, we cannot retrieve what is not there and so the more we learn and study and know the more we have to rely on when a time comes where we really need it.

Play-Doh

Play-Doh has been on the market since the 1950’s and continues to have a strong presence today. In fact my daughter just got some the other day. I have been reminded about some of the qualities of Play-doh, including the fact that if you leave it out after playing with it, it doesn’t take long to become a dried out crumbly mess! I am sure that if you were using it to make a sculpture that you wanted to harden then it is great stuff to use and works fast. If, however, like my daughter you like to use and re-use the clay then you had best be careful to get it all back into it’s container, get the lid on tight and make sure that you never ever use the stuff near carpet! Cleaning up the hard crumbled mess recently, got me thinking about spiritual life. If we let ourselves become hard and crusty however, could it be that we are just not all that useful to God? In order to remain soft and usable we must be sure to keep ourselves doing the things He has told us to do, such as, studying His Word, praying, meeting with other believers, serving and sharing. When we neglect such things we run the risk of becoming hard, crusty and useless!