Merry Christmas Eve! Yes, it’s 12:41 AM on December 24th as I write this so it is technically Christmas eve. Hard to believe it’s Christmas Eve already, I feel like the month has flown by! For those of you who don’t know, I currently work for a major retail establishment as a way of making some extra income during my Christmas Break. I had an experience today that ties back to the Christmas Story and it has been on my mind all day and I tried to go to bed, but couldn’t stop thinking about it so here we are!
My Job for this retail establishment is called a “General Merchandise Associate” which is just a fancy term for stocker. I pull things off of shelves in the backrooms of our store, load them onto carts and then take those carts out to the store and put the items I’ve pulled onto the shelves for customers to purchase. I have a handheld computer that I carry with me that tells me which items to pull and where they’re located in our backroom to find them. I do get quite a bit of customer interaction in between there, which is such a blessing, but tonight, I was pulling some Home Decor items from our backroom onto my cart. I did several of the items and as I was going, there was one item that my computer told me was on a specific shelf in our backroom and so I went to look and couldn’t find it. I looked and looked and looked but it was nowhere to be found, or so I thought. I went to look ONE more time before telling the computer that it wasn’t there and as it turns out, it was right in front of me the whole time and I had just missed it.
It really got me thinking; How many things in life that we seek are truly right in front of us without us realizing it? One of the big ones is Joy. One of my favorite college professors who is a Doctor of Social Psychology talks a lot about how everything we do as humans centers around 2 ideas: That we want to be right and that we want to feel good about ourselves. That part about wanting to feel good about ourselves ties back to Joy because we’re constantly doing things that bring us joy, whether it be buying ourselves an iced coffee or taking a stroll through Hobby Lobby. There comes a time though when we have to take a step back and ask ourselves if we’re doing more things that bring US joy or are we doing more things that bring GOD Joy and bring JOY to others? You see, there’s nothing wrong with self-care or treating yourself occasionally, but it shouldn’t be your top priority. The two greatest commandments in the whole Bible are simply to Love God and Love others and I think sometimes we lose sight of that in the midst of bringing OURSELVES joy.
As Followers of Christ; we’re reminded in scripture time and time again that our joy is found in the Lord and we see that in the Christmas Story. I’ve been digging through the Gospel of Luke since it’s 25 chapters and there are 25 days in December until Christmas. In Luke Chapter 2, verses 10-14 it reads: 10But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. 11Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. 12This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.” 13Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, 14“Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.”. This passage shows how Christ’s coming brings joy that’s meant for everyone and peace that comes from God—not just calm feelings, but restored relationship and hope. You see, we lost that relationship when Eve bit into the apple in the garden, but God didn’t end the story there; he sent his son to restore that relationship because he loves us so much and desires so much to be with us.
If you’re reading this today and haven’t accepted Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior, there is NO better time than now to begin that Journey. Despite popular belief, you don’t have to have it all figured out or have your life put together before you go to Jesus, that’s what he’s there for. You can fill out the contact form on the top of this page or send me a comment on this post and I would LOVE to tell you about MY personal Lord and Savior that died a gruesome death on a cross so we could be free and have life and life to the fullest.
Love Y’all,
- Jonathan