Is a Cold REALLY the worst thing at Christmas?


I'm sick.

And in truth I was going to bemoan the fact and tell you all how much I had to do today, and how awful being sick right before the holidays is.  In fact, in a sentence I just erased I had said "being sick at the holidays is THE WORST."

But God stopped me in my tracks.

"The WORST?"...I heard that still small voice say - and then the famous line from Princess Bride, "I do not think it means what you think it means..."

No.  Being sick at the holidays is definitely NOT the worst.

Being without a child, or a spouse.  Watching someone you love as they take their last breaths in hospice.  Hearing about the accident that paralyzed or killed a friend or a spouse, or dealing with a recent diagnosis of a life-threatening disease - there are many things that are worse...

And even then - those tragedies are NOT the worst if the people in question have a relationship with God.  

THE WORST - is being without Him, not just during the holiday but any day of the week.  For our GOD is LOVE...and WE ALL NEED LOVE.

It's funny that this was the topic of the sermon I heard yesterday, because it is a concept I have been thinking about this entire past week.  On the refrigerator of my former husband's mom there was a saying that admonished those who sought to be loved.  I hated that!  

I know that I wanted love.  Craved it in fact.  But the truth is that the LOVE I was in search of was the love of God.  Our minister said that God is the source of all love and when you truly understand it - it flows through you and out into the world. 

 At the time I didn't have a relationship with God - and so I KNOW it wasn't flowing through me.  I also think my ex-husband maybe knew OF God, but he didn't actually know God - because love didn't seem to flow through him either.

So there you have it - my take on the actual WORST during the holidays - people who don't know God and therefore don't experience HIS love.  

As people who call ourselves Christians - let us look for opportunities to let the love of God flow through us and out onto the people who need it most.

"Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God.  Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God." - 1 John 4:7







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