Can My Maker Handle Me
"I am ready to meet my Maker. Whether my Maker is prepared for the great ordeal of meeting me is another matter." — Winston Churchill, nearing the end of his life.
Do you ever feel like you are just too much for God? If He only knew you. If He could only see the mess that you are, the things you've done, surely He'd never want to deal with that, to accept that, to accept YOU.
Even the great, lion-hearted Winston Churchill questionned His Maker's willingness to take on the "ordeal" of dealing with his life.
Well, gues what?! He IS ready for you. There is no mess too big that you cannot bring him. No sin that He will not swallow up in forgiveness, in mercy, and grace.
"All those the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away" (John 6:37, NIV).
The Weight of Christmas
In recent years giant inflatables have become popular.
Inflatables are available in myriad variety: Santas, Grinches, Snowmen, snow families, and of course Christmas minions, and the famous Christmas dragon with a Santa hat (because nothing says Christmas like a dragon!).
The inflatables look great and robust, and they can be massive -- until it snows!!
When my wife and I went out for a walk in the first snow of the season, we came across many of these inflatables in our neighborhood. And although I had assumed the fallen snow would only enhance their beauty and grandeur, every one of them was crushed under the weight of the snow.
Santa was no longer jolly. The snowman was flattened.
The irony was not lost on me.
The very season they promoted crushed them, and they could not stand up under its weight.
They were flattened by the season they represented.
Fortunately, these symbols of joy, peace, and love do not stand on their own!
They are supported by the beautiful story of the incarnation, Emmanuel, God with us.
Without the strength of that story, the season of Christmas, with all its busyness and ritual, would crush us.
Without the sustenance of its story, the Christmas season itself becomes a difficult burden to stand up under.
"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God ... The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth" (John 1:1,14, NIV).
Two Monks
One day, two monks were walking through the countryside. They were on their way to another village to help bring in the crops. As they walked, they spied an old woman sitting at the edge of a river. She was upset because there was no bridge, and she could not get across on her own.
The first monk kindly offered, “We will carry you across if you would like.”
“Thank you,” she said gratefully, accepting their help.
The author concludes, "That is what many of us are like in dealing with our families. We are that second monk who cannot let go. We hold the pain of the past over our loved ones’ heads like a club, or we remind them every once in a while, when we want to get the upper hand, of the burden we still carry because of something they did years ago."
"Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice" (Ephesians 4:31).