This Christmas season, I've been pondering about how difficult it is to be nice. Not-so-nice is easy, even our natural style. Therein lies the rub. I want to be good, but continually fail. Santa might flunk me.
I adore Christmas. Time with family is precious and sweet. The lights and decor are spectacular. The generosity and thoughtfulness of gift-giving is genuinely heart-warming. The trimmings are lovely, but they're ... trimmings, not the main affair. At the end of the day, I still have to work through the better person I want to be, may even be becoming (slowly) but am not yet. Life provides a constant test of character, when things don't always get better; in fact, they often seem to deteriorate into mind-numbing gel. The self so easily becomes a prison, even when I determine to be selfless.
So the real deal, the golden nugget of Christmas, gets down to Jesus, the Savior who came to the stable. His remarkable words are my beacon:
"Then the righteous will shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father." - Jesus (Mt 13:43a)
Herein lies my Christmas hope. Jesus came to bring me- and all takers- the ultimate gift: His own righteousness, His own good nature, His own amazing soul. He paid a heavy price to provide this gift, which makes it an even greater treasure. Someday, when I abandon this rapidly challenged tent of a body, I will indeed be much more than nice. Just as the sun's compulsion is to literally explode with light, my very nature will be goodness and love that burst out effortlessly. The endless exhaustion of doing battle with that narcissistic old nature will be done forever. What an incomprehensible and glorious future! Thank You, Jesus!
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