If I decorate my house perfectly with plaid bows,strands of twinkling lights and shiny balls,but do not show love to my family,I'm just another decorator.If I slave away in the kitchen,baking dozens of Christmas cookies,preparing gourmet meals and arranging a beautifully adorned table at mealtime:I'm just another cook.If I work at a soup kitchen,carol in the nursing home,and give all that I have to charity;but do not show love to my family,it profits me nothing.If I trim the spruce with shimmering angelsand crocheted snowflakes,attend a myriad of holiday parties and sing in the choir's cantata but do not focus on Christ, I have missed the point. Love stops the cooking to hug the child. Love sets aside the decorating to kiss the spouse. Love is kind, though harried and tired. Love does not envy another's home that has coordinated Christmas china and table linens. Love does not yell at the kids to get out of the way, but is thankful they are there to be in the way. Love does not give only to those who are able to give in return; but rejoices in giving to those who cannot. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, and endures all things. Love never fails. Video games will break, pearl necklaces will be lost, golf clubs will rust, but giving the gift of love will endure.--Author Unknown
2 comments:
Reminded me of this:
http://www.theonion.com/content/video/report_nation_s_wealthy_cruelly
Also reminded me of this article by Ben Witherington:
http://benwitherington.blogspot.com/2007/12/no-inn-in-room-christmas-sermon-on-lk_09.html
He makes the point that Mary and Joseph were not likely staying in an "inn", but were staying with relatives. This makes sense, seeing as how Bethlehem was their hometown.
He writes:
"Luke has a different Greek word for inn (pandeion) which he trots out in the parable of the Good Samaritan. The word he uses here (kataluma) is the very word he uses to describe the room in which Jesus shared the last supper with his disciples—the guest room of a house."
Like the retelling of 1 Cor 13 that Mom posted, this way of telling the story of Mary and Joseph takes it a little closer to home. Not that we shouldn't care for the poor and oppressed in the world, but God has not given us everyone for our children or everyone for a spouse or everyone for a parent. God gives us a special charge to care for those whom he has placed under our noses, and by caring for them, we learn to care for the world. 1 Tim 3:4
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