My Good Thing....

Good things. Martha Stewart made them famous, those good things that make life special, more enjoyable. 

Around the holidays we find ourselves wanting to fill our homes and our lives with lots and lots of good things- good recipes, good decorations, good gifts. But it does not take long, for me at least, before those good things have taken over. 

In the busyness of making holiday plans or finding that perfect gift or heading out to the third Christmas party of the season, we slowly begin to miss it. We begin to miss the best thing.

And you know how it so often ends… plans frustrated, casseroles burnt, toys out of stock, stomach viruses rampant (“Please, Lord, no,” we all silently pray.) 

In the middle of all the clamor and craziness of this season, we see this quiet declaration in scripture: “The nearness of God is my good.”

Oh, that we would remember, in the midst of all these fading, temporal, good things, that there is a lasting, enduring best thing. And it is that God has come near.

The exceedingly better “good thing” of the fact that Jesus, perfectly holy, who was living in perfect holiness and surrounded by praise, humbled Himself and came near to us. And in doing so He brought us, who were far off, near to God. By being obedient in our place and giving His life for ours, He has brought us so close to Him that scripture says we are seated with Him in the heavenlies. 

Isn’t that what Christmas is all about? As Christians, our endless good thing is that we have been brought near to our God as His children through His son Jesus. And it is better than the best holiday menu, the most creative decorations, the most festive Christmas party, and the latest and the greatest gadget of a gift.

Perhaps this truth has been driven deeper into my heart this year as I anticipate the Christmas season… the goodness of his nearness. Because, in this first Christmas without my mom, I am sure there will be more tears than joy, more sadness than laughter, and frankly I need something more than what this world’s good things have to offer. 

But in the moments of greatest sadness and feelings of loneliness, the Lord has given this great promise. He is close to those who are brokenhearted. And I am finding the sweetness of this ironic reality: when I feel like He is the farthest away, He has promised that He is closest.

So this Christmas I am most thankful for the things that point me to Jesus, to the reality of his nearness. In the moments all I seem to see is grief, they are ever pointing me to Him who is close and near. 

As you go about your search for good things this Christmas, I hope this excerpt from Noel Piper’s book, Treasuring God in Our Traditions will be an encouragement for you, wherever you find yourself this holiday season. This is her response to a mother, whose child almost died and who was struggling with the “hoopla” of Christmas:

"It’s not at all surprising that Christmas is hard for you this year. The reason for Christmas is the same as it ever was, and nothing is more essential to our lives than the Incarnation. What’s different for you, I expect, is that the traditions we wrap around December 25 to make it different from other days, those traditions and activities are as nothing to you this year. In fact, the thought of them probably weigh like a lump of lead in your belly. So what? Trees are nothing. Feasts are nothing. Lights are nothing. Music is nothing.

Only Christ matters. He is the only reason that you can be on any sort of journey with God, that you can have anything at all to do with God. Only Jesus matters. Hold onto that….

One time I told someone in hard times, “Just hang in there.” But she corrected me, “I’m not just hanging in there. I’m trying to hang on to Jesus.”

So please just keep hanging on to Jesus."

Sometimes, when things are going well, we might too easily forget that we have only one sure, immovable, dependable strength- Jesus, who was a baby once and is always and forever God. That is what holds us and keeps us whether or not we can carry out traditions. May our decorations, gifts, and festivities-or lack of them- never block our view of him but always point us to him.

I am praying for each of us, that every good thing this Christmas season points to the one ultimate good thing: that He is near to us.

A satisfied thanksgiving....

It was Christmastime.

She sat in a chair by herself where she could be warm close to the fireplace. She couldn’t get around very well on her own anymore. With one ailing leg propped in front of her, everyone milled around her, but she did not seem to mind. She seemed peaceful and content. 

I had heard all the stories about her before but never met her.

Everyone called her Big Mama, she was Granddaddy’s mama. They had told me about her- how she loved Jesus and her family and how she was known all over town. She was a modern day Dorcas. She was the woman who, no matter on what side of the tracks you lived or what the color your skin happened to be, if you were sick, she was knocking on your door. 

And there she sat, widowed now for over 5 years, declining health slowly beginning to take its toll.

I eyed her from across the room. I wanted to talk to her, but I was afraid she would see right through me, all the way down to my sinful heart. I did not know then that truly godly people are never surprised by sin because they have seen the depth of their own depravity. They are like the humble tax-collector, too busy asking for mercy on their own sin to be surprised by what they see in others.

I walked over cautiously, and she looked up with a smile and welcomed me to sit. She knew who I was. She had already been praying for her “great grandson and his new wife” everyday at 7am I learned later in a sweet note she sent to us. 

We talked unhurriedly for a long time, mostly about Christmases gone by. As I listened, I hungrily took in her words. I loved hearing from older women in the faith, who had run the race so well. As she recalled memories of family dinners and endless games of rook on Christmas Eve, I could almost hear the echoes of laughter from long ago. But in those moments, I wondered if the memories were painful or sad for her, with her husband having passed away and her inability to get around. But there was no hint of either in her demeanor. It was as if she, with all her years of wisdom, sensed my quiet awe. 

She paused thoughtfully and leaned toward me, as though she were about to tell me her secret.  And she said those unforgettable words. She and Granddaddy seem to have a knack for saying things that need to be kept close to your heart.

“I thank God for all the years I have had. He has blessed me with so much…. I have had enough joy and blessing already to last me the rest of my life.” Her gentle, humble voice made it clear that she knew she did not deserve any of it. It was grace, all grace.

It took me the rest of the evening to take in the weight and meaning of those words. I don’t think I fully comprehended it until a few years ago, when I sat around the Christmas tree with my own husband and children. Overcome with joy and thankfulness, I remembered that moment beside the fire with Big Mama and quietly said those same words to myself, “I am so blessed. I have had enough joy to last the rest of my life.” As the images of my husband and children playing together blurred with tears, I realized at the same time how I done nothing to deserve it. It was all grace, pure grace.

These words have come to define for me true thankfulness. Not just thankfulness, as the world sees it, but contented, satisfied thankfulness. As Elisabeth Elliot writes, “Thanksgiving brings contentment.”

Sometimes I forget though. Sometimes I am more like the ungrateful child, who, after handing her a piece of candy, barely has the words “thank you” out of her mouth before asking for another piece. In those times, it is clear that I am not satisfied with what the Lord has given me, even while I am mouthing words of gratitude.

I forget that authentic thankfulness brings satisfaction and contentment, while an empty thank you is just a symptom of my real discontent that Elisabeth Elliot writes, “dries up the soul.” 

This Thanksgiving season, I want to look around me, not with a discontent, dried up soul, but with fresh eyes of true thankfulness and say, full and satisfied, “Lord, Thank you for these blessings. I have already been given so much more than I deserve. Even if I never receive another blessing from your hand, it is enough. I am satisfied.”

In Elisabeth Elliot’s book, Secure in the Everlasting Arms, I found these suggestions by E.B.Pusey(1800-1882) to spur us on to thankfulness and contentment. While we are focusing on thankful hearts this season, may the Lord bring forth much contentment, as we offer thanks and find ourselves satisfied in all that He is and all that He has so graciously given us.

1. Allow thyself to complain of nothing, not even the weather.

2. Never picture thyself to thyself under any circumstance in which thou are not.

3. Never compare thine own lot with that of another.

4. Never allow thyself to dwell on the wish that this or that had been, or were, otherwise than it was, or is. God Almighty loves thee better and more wisely than thou doest thyself.

5. Never dwell on the morrow. Remember that it is God’s not thine. The heaviest part of sorrow often is to look forward to it. “The Lord will provide.”