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Christmas Value by Dr. Juan Harrison

Christmas Value by Dr. Juan Harrison
  • PublishedMay 10, 2023


God allowed or permitted it.  The scribblings of grandson Solomon decorated the refrigerator door along with the sheets of manila paper where Jack and Emmie enjoyed using my address stamp on drawings of Mamaw and Papaw.  No rich man’s fortune, no poor man’s poverty, qualified us for such blessings.  Just as we judge people’s sins and rank them by how bad they are when sin is simply sin, it’s all disobedience of God, it all separates us from Him, and it requires forgiveness from Him.  So as the blessings fall on our lives which in truth we don’t deserve; it’s a reminder to us how gracious and generous He is.

Looking out the window like the prodigal son’s father, I’m anxiously awaiting the arrival of my kids from snowy Colorado via zero degree Amarillo as they are blessed in their travels with dry roads.  The 40 mph winds pushing them along in the Panhandle serve to speed them on their way.  Having spent their recent years in summery San Diego and La Jolla they’re finding a whole new meaning of culture shock, or should we say, climate shock.  Either way, this unusually wintery  welcome home to East Texas Christmas is that much sweeter.  

The thirty plus chairs placed around rooms full of tables await the arrival of the young and olders on my wife’s side.  Sometimes we take in friendly strays who have no place to go.  The more, the merrier.  Mamaw is good that way.  When we learned three more little ones in foster care had been added to our Christmas dinner list and present swap, Mamaw gleefully pulled out the Amazon card and ordered a whole new passel of toys.  Maybe for a little while they’ll get to experience life in a normal setting.

It’s hard to summarize in words what Christmas means.  It’s true we spend too much and eat too much.  We play wild games and burden the disposal people with extra work.  Much stronger and more important, especially to us older guys, is the actual, absolute, concrete knowledge that we better enjoy this Christmas because we ain’t guaranteed no more.  Each additional one under normal circumstances is becoming ever more valuable as our odds for a repeat are dropping.  Let us hang on till they pry our fingers from this thing called life here as we know it.

Life is good.  Heaven is better.  Some young relatives lately enlightened us that our home and family holidays here are some of the last vestiges of stability and normalcy that they cling to in their young lives.  They asked us to please don’t stop letting our home be a harbor in a stormy world.  There’s a heavy responsibility.  Oh, well, somebody has to do it.  Pass me some more of those chicken and dumplings and that strawberry cake.

By Dr. Juan Harrison

 

 

 

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