Still Christmas?

by Kay Byurstrom

Christmas… just that one word can bring different thoughts to your mind.  It conjures up wonderful memories for some of Christmas past, and yet for others the word would just as soon be erased. Christmas is not about what our society has made it to be.  It is about the celebration of our Lord Jesus Christ’s birthday, the day God reached down to earth to bring us to Himself by giving us His Son.

It is with this thought in mind that we as the moms and grandmas are asked to make our Christmas celebrations meaningful and memorable.  How do we do that with so much commercialism all around us?  Hit the BIG sales for things we think we really need? Stress over how to pay for everything?  Try to find time to buy and wrap the gifts, decorate the house and bake all the goodies?  We are exhausted by the time Christmas actually arrives!  There has to be a better way.

What can we do to relieve the pressure the world puts on us and concentrate on what is important and what really matters? 

First, our hearts have to be right with God.  We need to focus on Him… after all, it is His Day!  Spend time with Him each day and quiet your heart and mind.  Let Him speak to you and fill you with peace.  Then you can more easily discern what is important and what is not.

Make time for your children and grandchildren.  We can get so busy that we run out of our most precious commodity… time!  That is what they want more than anything.  Make some family traditions that center around playing and laughing together.  Bake cookies or some other family treat for the neighbors and get your kids involved in the making and the delivery.  Just sit and look at the Christmas lights on the tree and sing carols together or simply talk or be still.  Adopt a family to shop for, and get your children involved with the gift list.  Focusing on others helps us remember that Christ came to give Himself away.  Go caroling with the church and visit our shut-ins.  They are so lonely around the holidays and you can bring much joy to them by doing this simple activity.

As wives, mothers and grandmothers, we are the ones that set the tone for our homes.  If our families do not see the true meaning of Christmas in our homes, they probably won’t see Christmas at all.  So, this year, let’s all stay calm, let Christ’s peace rule in our hearts and take time to be still and hear God’s prompting.  This could be the best Christmas yet!

Stewardship

by Carol Supper

My mom faithfully attended church and took all 4 of us kids with her to the little white church on the corner of 147^th St. and California Ave. in the Chicago suburb of Posen, Illinois. From the time I was an infant until sometime during my college years, the Merrell family was present at Community Bible Church just about every time the doors were open. In fact, we often opened the doors!

At the age of 7 I accepted Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior of my life after hearing a message from two Evangelist brothers with the last name of Lindquist. I had been in Sunday School and church every Sunday morning, Sunday night, and Wednesday night of my life, and on that particular evening it all made sense to me. 

So it is probably not surprising to any that the word “stewardship” was a part of my vocabulary from a very early age.  My understanding of that word, though, was very limited and remained quite obscure to me until a few years ago when a SGC Sunday School class had a guest teacher named Ned Kiser come and teach a quarter on that very word. I was quite surprised to discover that I really knew very little of Biblical Stewardship. 

Perhaps I should start at the beginning.

 

Growing up in the church, I was fluent in “Christian Speak,” and words such as omniscience, born again, redeemed, and stewardship rolled easily off my tongue. I was always surprised when somebody would ask what I was talking about. “Doesn’t everybody know about atonement, the Holy Ghost, and propitiation?!” The word “stewardship” was just another word that Christians used that meant “giving.” whether it was money, time or talents.

Fast forward 20 years--okay maybe 40 years--and I am sitting in the HOPE SS class learning that stewardship means a whole lot more than that. In fact, I would have preferred to stay ignorant so I wouldn’t have to be held responsible! 

Disclaimer: if you do not want to be held responsible for changing your behavior to match your knowledge, STOP reading right now! 

Okay, you can’t say I didn’t warn you!

To understand stewardship, you need to understand what a steward is. The Free Dictionary says a steward is “One who manages another's property, finances, or other affairs.”  Notice that it does not say, “One who manages his own property, finances…” Okay, so what does that mean? It means that we are only managers and not owners. The owner is the Lord! "The earth is the Lord's, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it." (Psalm 24:1) 

Now that we understand what stewardship actually means, ask yourself a question. “Would I hire ME to manage my finances, my time, my abilities?” I am so blessed and grateful that my property owner is gracious and merciful…otherwise I would have been fired a long time ago. 

How are you going to respond? Do you need to change your “managing style”? Maybe you need to spend more time reading the textbook that tells you how to please the owner. You probably already have a copy of this book (perhaps even many!). Open your Bible…it has all the direction you need. It clearly tells us how to manage all that the Lord has given us in such a way that will make him want to say, “Well done, good and faithful steward.” One passage to start with is Matthew 25:13-30.

Once you come to grips with what needs to change in your life, it's time to teach these principles to your kids.  Naturally, you will have a lot to explain with your words, but your example will speak the most loudly to them!