Resolutions or revolutions

My old grandmother used to say that some people's promises are like pie crusts - made to be broken. New Year resolutions may soon be broken. So why bother? D.H.Farmer wrote, 'The true vow is the attempt to capture the high and serious moment, to take it out of the transciencies and make it one of the permanencies of the soul's life, to condense out of the vapour of feeling a solid mass and momentum of directed will'.
It helps us to keep our promises if we call other people to witness them - as happens in a wedding ceremony. We are also helped if our vows are made to God and with a consciousness of his presence and available help.
A life without vows, like a long sentence without punctuation marks, is likely to sag. But meaningful vows help us to live by our high moments and not our low ones. Resolutions then lead to revolutions in life and living.

Post Christmas

The post-Christmas period can be something of an anti-climax.'Shopperolics'may find some relief in 'retail therapy'but for the rest of us it may be a case of taking a deep breath before launching into the New Year. But we might learn a lesson from the rustic shepherds who were first on the scene after the birth of Jesus Christ. Having seen the baby we read that the shepherds returned to where they were living in nearby nearby fields 'praising God for all the things they had heard and seen' (Luke 2.20).For them the glow and the glory didn't pass as a dream. They took Christmas with them back to the hum-drum task and the familiar setting. And life copuld never be the same again!

At home or abroad

When I first came to live in Australia nearly thirty years ago I mostly felt almost as much at home as at home in the UK. But one thing seemed more than passing strange and that was Christmas. To hear a Salvation Army band playing, 'See amid the winter's snow while perspiration poured down the musicians' faces was odd, to say the least. I had to adjust my thinking and adapt to the climate in the southern hemisphere, realising that Christmas was not merely a date on a calendar or tied to particular climatic conditions. It was meant to be an experience in the heart. G.K.Chesterton wrote of Bethlehem as a place where God was homeless and all men are at home. And so,wherever we are we can be at home with the Christmas story and find a universal application of the truth that God is with us wherever we may be.

Where are you going?

In the Christmas story those who sought Christ came from very different locations, from near and far. The shepherds came from down the road in the shepherds' fields. The wise men journeyed from another country. But the most important thing was not from whence they came but where they were going. They were all intent in finding Jesus and knowing the truth about him. Whether we come from poor circumstances or with the proverbial silver spoon in the mouth is beside the point. What matters is where we are aiming in life. We can all find in Jesus Christ the perfect form of whatever truth we possess - as long as we keep right on searching to the end of the road.

Birds of a feather

It is said that birds of a feather flock together. In other words, people of like mind find encouragement in the company of those who share their interests. My wife and I enjoyed a Christmas meal with a company of retired Salvation Army officers whose years of service around the world would add up to many thousands. As far as I know none of those present were millionaires. Their chosen profession didn't pay that well in dollars and cents. But they would be as happy a crowd as you could hope to find. Real riches lie in the knowledge that you have given your best trying to make the world a better place. That is better than money in the bank.