The Christmas Mask

How can I make (insert name here) happy?  In the buildup to Christmas that is the question that everyone builds on.  We are told so often that it is in the giving of the right gifts that people are made happy that we are brainwashed about it.  Now I am not knocking the giving of gifts, but the reason that we give them.  There is nothing wrong with giving someone a gift.  It can be a wonderful experience for both the giver and the receiver.  But, as I sit here I am wondering how many people were needing a hug, a conversation, someone to spend time with them this Christmas and what they got was "Here is this (insert type of present here), now go off and leave me alone because you are not worthy of my time and love".  Now I really doubt that people were actually told this orally, but this was what the actions of the giver said to the recipient.  I believe that when you give a gift without love for the other person, you are using the gift as a mask to hide behind as you pretend to love that other person.  It is a mask that only fools the person who is hiding behind it.

I realize that this happens all year, but it seems there more stories of this happing at Christmas time than any other time.  I know that we live in a society where there so many things are demanded of us, that we do not have time to do everything that we want to do.  So we substitute gifts for love.  That is where I think that we miss it.  You see I really believe that love will give meaning to gifts, but gifts will never give meaning to love.  I believe that love must always be there first.

I believe that this starts with God.  God is love.  Everything that He does or says comes from love.  There is nothing that comes from Him that does not come from Love.

So, I believe that one of the things about being made in His image is that we always need to start with love.  Everything that we do or say must come from love.  If others know that we love them then that love will give everything in our relationship meaning.  However, I believer that whenever we do not love, then nothing that we do or say will give meaning to that relationship.

Now take this a step further.  If we as believers really have God within us, then we have his Love within us, so everything that we do or say should radiate that Love.  If that His Love is not showing, then how can we truly say that we have God within us.

So I hope that we truly all love each other and Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Hiding in Spirituality

What does the phase "hiding in spirituality" mean?  Is there any difference between "hiding in spirituality" and being spiritual?  I think that the answers to these two questions would depend on who you ask.  Each person could and would answer based on their experiences and prejudices.

For me there is a difference between hiding and being.  I think that people who are "hiding in spirituality" do so out of fear.  They either put up a front believing that if the truth about them was known, then they would not be accepted.  Church leaders do this all the time, because if they admitted that they were not perfect then they would be kicked out of the church.  Churches have preached "Be you perfect" and then expected people to live that out in their own efforts.  The best that anyone can do along that way of thinking is to be a Pharisee.  We can discipline our actions to look perfect, but we can't discipline our hearts.  Our hearts can only change by Christ working within us.  It is His working to change our hearts that produces genuine change in our actions.

Others hide because they are scared of the "secular".  They are so scared of being drawn into something bad that they put up walls to stay behind so they will feel safe.  That is why most rules and traditions within the church are there.  It is staying within those rules, that creates a feeling of being safe.  A person who has grown up in an abusive home can find safety within the rules of not drinking.  The old rules against dancing, swimming together, dress, etc were put there to protect against marital breakups.  People who hide like this are like the people that put bars on their windows and doors to feel safe, not realizing that they placed themselves within a prison of their own making. Again, I think that people who do this are acting out a faith that is produced by their own works and not trusting God to change the hearts of people.

To be spiritual is the answer and separate from this problem.  I think that being spiritual is just being in a relationship with God.  This is a relationship that is a lot like the relationship that we have with our friends and loved ones, just more so.  This relationship does not hide you from reality, but makes it more real.  It allows you to give mercy and grace to others because of the mercy and grace given us.  We can love because we are loved.  This does not mean that we are perfect, but that we trust God to work in our hearts to change us and we can be honest with friends that will not think less of us for admitting our failures, but loving us all the more.