Keeping Christmas in My Heart

“I will honor Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all year.”

 

That quote from Charles Dickens is one of my favorites.  And it's a philosophy I wish more people would embrace.

 

Today, for most people, Christmas is over.  The entire holiday season has been filed away in their memory banks.  All that remains for many is finishing off the last of the Christmas cookies, putting away the last of the decorations, getting the house back in order, and moving on to the next thing.

 

For many, today is a work today; back to business as usual.  Christmas is but a memory.  Gifts have been put away.  Gift cards are in wallets, ready to be used, if they haven't been already.  The unwanted gifts have been returned, exchanged, or put away to be regifted later.  The decorations have returned to their storage bins.  Even the tree is gone. 

 

None of that has happened here.  The tree and decorations are still in place.  Partly because I would like to enjoy them a little longer.  And partly (mostly) because having a still-not-completely-healed back is not conducive to the bending and stretching that would be part of taking down the decorations.  In any event, the tree and all the trimmings will be enjoyed for at least one more week.

 

Still being surrounded by decorations is one way to keep Christmas in my heart.  Remembering the joy of having family here.  The memories that come with so many of our decorations.  Like the nativity we purchased in Bethlehem.  The Little Drummer Boy music box that once belonged to my mother and now is mine.  Keeping the memories close is one way to keep Christmas in my heart.

 

Pondering is another.

 

Ponder:  to consider something deeply and thoroughly; to weigh carefully in the mind; to consider thoughtfully.

 

The word ponder is not one that we regularly use in conversation, but we can find it in the Biblical account of Christmas.

 

"And coming in, [the angel Gabriel] said to her, 'Greetings, favored one!  The  Lord is with you.' But [Mary] was very perplexed at this statement, and kept pondering what kind of salutation this was."  (Luke 1:28-29 NASB)

 

"But Mary treasured all these things, pondering them in her heart."  (Luke 2:19 NASB)

 

Perhaps we need to follow Mary's example and do some pondering.  We need to treasure Christmas in our hearts.  Not just for a few weeks in December.  But into January.  And throughout the year.  We need to ponder Christmas.  We need to think on it deeply and often.  That Christ left heaven for us to become one of us so that He could pay our sin debt.  A debt He didn't owe.  A debt we could never pay.

 

That's something worth pondering!  And when we ponder that truth, we'll keep our Christmas spirit!

 

As 2013 came to a close and 2014 began, I was focused on that word.  Ponder.  And as 2014 has ended, and we begin 2015, I'm once again drawn to it.

 

Ponder.

 

Ponder all that Christ has done.  Ponder His first advent and look forward to the second.

 

And, in the words of the hymn writer, ponder anew what the Almighty can do.

 

It's a good way to begin the year.  Pondering.

 

It's a good way to keep Christmas in my heart all year.

 

Praise to the Lord, Who doth prosper thy work and defend thee;
Surely His goodness and mercy here daily attend thee.
Ponder anew what the Almighty can do,
If with His love He befriend thee.

(from "Praise to the Lord, the Almighty" - Joachim Neander)