It’s Not How You Decorate… But What You Decorate!

First up on lots of our lists is decorating our home for the season. You may have already checked this box. I am still in the process, but enjoying taking my time.   Depending on how long you’ve been doing this, chances are you have some emotionally significant things that come out of storage to make it feel like Christmas for you and yours.  We have a wooden star that tops our tree each year.  It’s plain as far as stars go, but it’s meaning to us is very special.

In the first years of our marriage, my husband was studying dentistry, and I was a teacher.  To say that money was tight is like saying the Titanic had a little accident.  But the joy we found in decorating our little tree with paper ornaments we made lit up our holidays.  We even crafted a paper star to top the tree, and it survived for several years.  Then my creative, ‘good with his hands’ fella reproduced that star using balsam wood, and it still tops our tree today, reminding us of those lean but happy years, and how much we have for which to be grateful.

Today is a good time to think about how you will decorate your heart through this season!   Rather than letting the desire to have the brightest and shiniest and most perfect take your focus away from the love that surrounds this season, why not make a plan to get lost in the real story of Christmas, and decorate your heart with encouraging reminders of the gift He gave us when He sent His Son into the world as an infant.  Need a resource?  How about an online resource or a Christmas Devotion?  I am signing up for a daily email from Bible Gateway called “How to Live the Bible” focusing on Christmas Joy.  Check out  www.biblegateway.comand see the yellow banner at the top of the home page. Or check out the You Bible app, Another great resource. Go on! Be extravagant when it comes to decorating your heart!

Meanwhile, this was written long before the first tree was decorated, before the first Christmas carol was sung, before the Baby was born:

For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Isaiah 9:6