Between Christmas and the New Year

Between

Christmas and the New Year

There is a special time of the year for me and I think for most people

It is the time between Christmas and the New Year

Just like the greeting Merry Christmas are the blessing words of Happy New Year

Those few days between Christmas and the New Year seem to slow down

The activity of Christmas has ended and we take a little time to catch our breath

For me those few days between Christmas Day and New Year’s Day

Is a busy time for my mind

I do a lot of thinking

I reflect on the past year and years

In that reflection there is the realization that the forbidden fruit

In the Garden of Eden of good and evil has been a part of my life

I have eaten good things and things not so good

It is my goal to eat from the Tree of Life in the New Year

The Tree of Life is described as Wisdom

So I make it my goal to make every thought

Between Christmas and the New Year a prayer

That Jesus Christ might fill my thoughts and plans with the wisdom from above

Between

Christmas and the New Year

There is a special time of the year

for me and I think for most people.

It is the time between

Christmas and the New Year.

Just like the greeting Merry Christmas

are the blessing words of Happy New Year.

Those few days between Christmas

and the New Year seem to slow down.

The activity of Christmas has ended and

we take a little time to catch our breath.

For me those few days between Christmas

and the New Year is a busy time for my mind.

I do a lot of thinking.

I reflect on the past year and years.

In that reflection there is the realization that

the forbidden fruit in the Garden of Eden of

good and evil has been a part of my life.

I have eaten good things and things not so good.

It seems there were things I

chose and things I did not choose.

As I reflect on the past year,

I look at what the hard times

and good times have taught me.

The time between Christmas and the

New Year is a time of looking forward.

You know what they say…

 “You aim at nothing you will hit it every time”

So I look for my targets for the next year.

I want to be financially free,

have enough money to never have to worry

about where my next dollar will come from.

But reality is aiming my attention on

being a good steward of what I have.

All of us should know that what

you don’t work at will soon fall apart.

Everything in life needs to be tended to

even the Garden of Eden needed to be tended

according to God’s command to Adam and Eve.

So I must tend to my health, finances,

my house, businesses, and possessions.

I need to tend to my wife, children, and grandchildren.

I need to tend to my church and

its family, friends and neighbors.

That list is overwhelming for the New Year. 

So as I renew my goals of the past year

and develop new strategies, I realize the

most important part of the time between

Christmas and the New Year is prayer.

I make it my goal that every thought I

have is an open discussion with God.

I am a disciplined and active person.

The last thing I want to see is my

energy going to the wrong places.

I want what I do to count and I have learned that

the only thing that counts is what pleases the Lord.

The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord.

And He leads me beside still

waters, but there is also His leading

in the valley of the shadow of death.

    1 Timothy 2:5…

For there is one God and one mediator

between God and men, the man Christ Jesus

Jesus is mediator between God and Man.

Jesus is between Christmas and the New Year.

My life is not my own I am bought with a price.

So all my thought for the New Year

must be His thoughts as well.

I found I get tired of the fruit

from the Tree of Knowledge.

I get tired of eating good and evil.

What I want for the New Year is the Tree of Life.

Proverbs tells us the Tree of Life is…

She is a tree of life to those who take hold of her,

and happy are all who hold her fast.

 (NASB) Proverbs 3:18

The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life,

and he who is wise wins souls.

 (NASB) Proverbs 11:30

Hope deferred makes the heart sick,

but desire fulfilled is a tree of life.

 (NASB) Proverbs 13:12

A soothing tongue is a tree of life,

but perversion in it crushes the spirit.

 (NASB) Proverbs 15:4

The Tree of Life is described as wisdom.

Although Jesus was never called the Tree

of Life, He is the Vine and the Bread.

Jesus does refresh us like the Tree of Life.

 

Whether you look at the New Year with hope or fear…

Bring every thought into captivity

unto the obedience of Jesus Christ.

So my goal between Christmas and the New Year…

Is to have the mind of Christ.

Scripture Reading

1 Timothy 2:1-7 NIV

2:1 I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone— 2 for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. 3 This is good, and pleases God our Savior, 4 who wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth. 5 For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, 6 who gave himself as a ransom for all men — the testimony given in its proper time. 7 And for this purpose I was appointed a herald and an apostle — I am telling the truth, I am not lying — and a teacher of the true faith to the Gentiles.

2 Corinthians 10:4-6 NIV

4 The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. 5 We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. 6 And we will be ready to punish every act of disobedience, once your obedience is complete.