Thank Goodness for Christmas Music

I know this week I'm probably expected to write about thanksgiving and how we are to give thanks, not just one day of the year but every day, etc, etc, etc. But I feel like that has been done. So being the "rebel" that I am I've decided to focus on something a little different; Christmas music!!

A while ago I decided that i would not start listening to Christmas music until after thanksgiving. Some years I start on thanksgiving, but I just felt like its wrong to listen to Christmas music before the Macy's day parade and Santa comes rolling into town! But I LOVE Christmas music! I am chomping at the bit to pull out my Christmas Cd's this week, blast the carols and sing them loud every where I drive! It just puts me in such a good mood and best of all, so many of the songs are praising God!!

So that got me to thinking, what if we listened to Christmas music all the time? This time of year, things are different. People become so generous and friendly. Joy is almost everywhere you look and there is more giving in this one month than many years see in total. It's an awesome site to see, plus you throw up some big trees and lots of lights and decorations and things just look beautiful! Why wouldn't we want this feeling all year round? I think that is what having Jesus be a part of your life is like, Christmas all year round!

This summer as our student leaders scheduled our calendar they decided they wanted to do some time of service every month. Then we got to December... We started discussing the options we could do and the list was endless, we could feed the homeless, do toys for tots, package meals, raise money for a family, decorate houses, sing carols, the list goes on and on. So I said, "What if Solid Rock was THE group that didn't do anything during Christmas, but instead did Christmas all year?" The students stopped and thought about it for a second. Then they all smiled and shook their heads in agreement and we moved on to December. The decision was made quickly and I'm not sure if the students fully grasped what had just happened. They had made a decision to go against the grain of their culture and be different in the name of Jesus.

So what does Solid Rock do now? Every month we celebrate God's love by serving people in our community. In fact, this week we will be going to serve dinner to 80-100 kids at the Ronald McDonald Houses in Orlando! But in December we are going to take a break from all of that. We will sit back and watch everyone else serve and we will get to see them being Jesus' hands and feet. Every once in a while it is great to see others doing that because sometimes you can better see God moving through others than in ourselves. Once January roles around we will get right back to it though. We will begin to celebrate Christmas in January and February and so on in hopes that others will catch on to the joy that it brings us and others and maybe one day we will all take December off and see Christmas as a year long holiday.

So may you hear that Christmas music all year round, playing hymns of joy and peace and happiness and may these feelings you experience this December be ones you experience for the next 11 months as you experience Christmas year round! Thanks Goodness for Christmas music!!!