Our Stories
Celebrate
By Aaron Soderlund | posted 12/06/2007
"Look, there on the mountains, the feet of one who brings good news, who proclaims peace! Celebrate your festivals, O Judah, and fulfill your vows. No more will the wicked invade you; they will be completely destroyed." (Nahum 1:15)
As you can probably imagine, there has been much celebration in my house for the past week and a half. For the third time in four years, the Cougars won the Apple Cup! And for me, that is cause for A LOT of celebration.
But what are the other things that cause you to celebrate? I mean, really celebrate. I don't just mean order a cake, have people over, and call it a celebration. I'm talking jumping for joy, stand in awe, you can't sit still, lose your focus on anything else, heart leaps, pure celebration.
Once again we're in the month of celebration, or December. However the celebration of the Christmas season is often drowned out by running from one event to another, busy parking lots and streets of people out to buy their presents, figuring out gifts for everyone, and all of the 'stresses' of Christmas. And somewhere, all too often, lost in the middle of all of this is Jesus - the reason we celebrate Christmas.
Christmas and New Year is a really fun time of year. I love it. I love the holiday parties, the shopping, the returning, the music, the lights, everything. And I thrive on the excitement and celebration. But it wears me out. And honestly, a lot of times, I forget the purpose of all these great Christmas-time traditions. Come Christmas Eve, when reading Luke 2, like every year, before our family dinner, I remember the reason for Christmas. But it takes me that long to shut the rest of the world out to remember why we're celebrating. There are too many distractions pulling my attention away.
When Jesus was born, people celebrated. Angels burst out in song. People (the wise ones) walked miles upon miles to celebrate at His feet with gifts. A little drummer boy (supposedly) came to play at His feet - or at least the song says so. But the bottom line is that there was pure celebration!
For me, I celebrate more when I'm expecting something big to happen - and then it does. For example, the Cougs! I expected something big on Apple Cup Saturday. And then when it came, I celebrated - A LOT! People had been expecting the Messiah for centuries, so when He came, they celebrated. What are we expecting? What is going to make you celebrate this Christmas? I think when you expect/dream/wait/anticipate and it finally comes, you will have pure celebration!
This Christmas, expect Jesus to show up for His party. And I think we'll have a true celebration this Christmas. Not one filled with all the 'other stuff.'
Merry Christmas!
To respond to this message, email Aaron at aaron@windermere.com.
|
"Look, there on the mountains, the feet of one who brings good news, who proclaims peace! Celebrate your festivals, O Judah, and fulfill your vows. No more will the wicked invade you; they will be completely destroyed." (Nahum 1:15)
As you can probably imagine, there has been much celebration in my house for the past week and a half. For the third time in four years, the Cougars won the Apple Cup! And for me, that is cause for A LOT of celebration. But what are the other things that cause you to celebrate? I mean, really celebrate. I don't just mean order a cake, have people over, and call it a celebration. I'm talking jumping for joy, stand in awe, you can't sit still, lose your focus on anything else, heart leaps, pure celebration. Once again we're in the month of celebration, or December. However the celebration of the Christmas season is often drowned out by running from one event to another, busy parking lots and streets of people out to buy their presents, figuring out gifts for everyone, and all of the 'stresses' of Christmas. And somewhere, all too often, lost in the middle of all of this is Jesus - the reason we celebrate Christmas. Christmas and New Year is a really fun time of year. I love it. I love the holiday parties, the shopping, the returning, the music, the lights, everything. And I thrive on the excitement and celebration. But it wears me out. And honestly, a lot of times, I forget the purpose of all these great Christmas-time traditions. Come Christmas Eve, when reading Luke 2, like every year, before our family dinner, I remember the reason for Christmas. But it takes me that long to shut the rest of the world out to remember why we're celebrating. There are too many distractions pulling my attention away. When Jesus was born, people celebrated. Angels burst out in song. People (the wise ones) walked miles upon miles to celebrate at His feet with gifts. A little drummer boy (supposedly) came to play at His feet - or at least the song says so. But the bottom line is that there was pure celebration! For me, I celebrate more when I'm expecting something big to happen - and then it does. For example, the Cougs! I expected something big on Apple Cup Saturday. And then when it came, I celebrated - A LOT! People had been expecting the Messiah for centuries, so when He came, they celebrated. What are we expecting? What is going to make you celebrate this Christmas? I think when you expect/dream/wait/anticipate and it finally comes, you will have pure celebration! This Christmas, expect Jesus to show up for His party. And I think we'll have a true celebration this Christmas. Not one filled with all the 'other stuff.' Merry Christmas! To respond to this message, email Aaron at aaron@windermere.com. |
