Is all evidence of Christmas gone?

The lights, the glitter, the gifts, the manger scene are put away.The wishes for peace and goodwill have been expressed. Oh, there are still some cookies in the cupboard.
We have sung with the angels, looked for the star, worshiped with the kings and shepherds and visited our Christ Child at the manger.

Now what? What do I do with the joy experienced, the filling up of gratefulness for Jesus during the Christmas season?

Yes, Jesus came. He, Love, came down to live among us ... to follow the will of his Father ... 

to find the lost,

to heal the broken,

to feed the hungry,

to release the prisoner,

to rebuild the nations,

to bring peace. 

Powerful words. How does that look? Are they words that can live ... through me? Hm-m.

Can I, will I, with his grace, share him like he shared himself to find, heal, feed, release, rebuild, bring peace and share the joy in my heart?

So. About life everyday; every moment. It is God's gift, his grace, a sacred opportunity ... to love fiercely and lavishly the way God loves us.

This Charles Spurgeon quote speaks to the sacred moment.             

To a man who lives unto God, nothing is secular, everything is sacred.
He puts on his workday garment and it is a vestment to him.
He sits down to his meal and it is a sacrament.
He goes forth to his labor, and therein exercises the office of priesthood His breath is incense and his life a sacrifice.
He sleeps on the bosom of God, and lives and moves in the divine presence.
To draw a hard and fast line and say, "This is sacred and this is secular." is, to my mind, diametrically opposed to the teaching of Christ and the spirit of the gospel ...
Peter saw a sheet let down from heaven in which were all manner of beasts and four-footed creatures, which he was bidden to kill and eat. and when he refused because they were unclean, he was rebuked by a voice from heaven, saying, "What God hath cleansed that call not thou common." (Acts 10:15; 11:9)
The Lord hath cleansed your houses, he has cleansed your bed chambers, your tables ... He has made the common pot and pans of your kitchens to be as the bowls before the altar, if you know what you are and live according to your high calling.
You housemaids, you cooks, you nurses, you ploughmen, you housewives, you traders, you sailors, your labor is holy if you serve the Lord Christ in it, by living unto Him as you ought to live.
The sacred has absorbed the secular."

As daily tasks are approached ... I strive to practice awareness of each moment as ...
•  being sacred opportunity
•  filled with God's presence
•  imbued with his grace enabling God's followers to have expanded vision, purpose, energy, prayer, joy and love to make a difference in every life encountered
•  random acts of kindness becoming habitual acts of faithfulness
•  evidence of Christmas not fading away or merely lingering, but growing, abounding and flourishing in this new year of 2013

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