Thankful Thursday: Free Will
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My purpose in writing is simply this: that you who believe in God’s Son will know beyond the shadow of a doubt that you have eternal life, the reality and not the illusion. And how bold and free we then become in his presence, freely asking according to his will, sure that he’s listening. And if we’re confident that he’s listening, we know that what we’ve asked for is as good as ours.
1 John 5:13 (The Message)
The Divine Creator made us with an important attribute: Free will.
A few days ago, I was in a local office supply store. In my search for the items I needed, I rounded a corner and was confronted with a large display of 2008 calendars and planners. I did a double-take before reminding myself that it is already October. Why is it that every year seems to go faster than the one before it?
So as I decided to pick out a planner for next year, my eye wandered to the display next to the calendars: Christmas cards!
“No,” I muttered to myself, “I cannot deal with those yet.” Maintaining my resolve, I completed my purchases and did not even look at the brightly colored greeting cards.
But I’ve been thinking about the upcoming holidays in the days since. I had an epiphany: I realized that, for the first time in my life, I can choose to spend the holiday season in any way I please! I am no longer constrained by my obligations to the institutional church which always kicked into high gear immediately following Thanksgiving and continued through the New Year.
For the first time in my life, I can exercise my free will to devise a unique, meaningful way to celebrate the birth of the Savior — and maybe even start a new tradition.
Growing up, of course, I spent the holidays in the manner my family dictated and, as a college student and young, independent adult, also returned to my family home and traditions which always included participation in church activities. After establishing my own home and family, that tradition continued, especially as my parents aged, became grandparents, and longed to carry on the established routines surrounding holidays and milestones.
But now that I have eschewed association with the institutional church, a wide variety of options present themselves. For instance, I have always wanted to spend Christmas safely tucked into a cabin on a snow-covered hillside. I have always thought it would be lovely to spend Christmas Eve listening to carols and decorating a large pine tree with a glass of egg nog and roaring fire, stepping outside at midnight to hear the quiet, look at the stars, and imagine what that Bethlehem night must have been like.
I also love to be near the ocean any time of the year. So it would be equally lovely to rent a house on the beach and spend the evening the same way, except that it would be the smell of the salt air and sound of the waves that would enchant me in the wee small hours.
And Christmas Day? I think it would be delightful to open presents and enjoy a big, hearty brunch, lingering at the table to raise a mimosa to the memories of Christmases past spent with loved ones with whom we will eventually be reunited. An afternoon of reading, relaxing, and napping with carols playing softly might be just the ticket!
However I commemorate Christmas this year, it will be a different kind of celebration, designed to embrace the freedom I have discovered — from obligation, repetition of mundane services and sermons recycled by tired pastors, and feeling exhausted afterward from having served, but not really worshiped.
This year, I will celebrate boldly and freely in the presence of the Divine Creator — confident that my praises and prayers will be heard and answered.
So maybe I am ready to deal with those Christmas cards, after all, and plan a wonderful new way of singing “glory to the newborn King!”
For that, I am extremely thankful this Thursday!
What are you thankful for today? Leave a comment and link to your Thankful Thursday post! And, as always, thanks to Iris for being our wonderful host!
{ 20 comments… read them below or add one }
I’ve always felt frustrated with Christmas. It seems to turn into more busyness instead of true celebration. Your cabin scenario is just the ticket for me too! Alas, my husband works for a church, so I will still be in the rat race of programs and concerts and such. Every year I ask God how to make it more meaningful and less stressful. So far, I haven’t found a solution. Perhaps a tweak in my thinking is needed. What do you think?
Happy Thursday!
Such a great thankful list, bless you.
What really gets me down on Christmas is how commercial it has become–and that the true meaning is not allowed to share. Only the name of the holiday remains *sigh*…
Thank you so much for sharing your grateful heart with us this week.
Be blessed today and always.
what a grateful heart you are, thanks for sharing.. happy TT!
Great post. Even the name Christmas has been changed at times to Xmas. How sad. I hear your thoughts in the freedom to worship the Lord without the constraints of the organized church. In fact this week I started doing a series of posts on my blog about Christian community, one of which was about the same things you speak about. Feel free to visit my site and comment. I really sense your hopefulness in becoming a new person in Christ. I can also hear your pain in the organized church. I will pray for you, if that’s okay? Have a great day.
I have found that dealing with some things early on, like Christmas cards and presents helps me to have a more relaxed less stressful holiday season. Buying early also helps me to save a little money because I don’t impulse buy at the last minute.
Thank you for wonderful praise to our Savior!
I think we do often allow Christmas to lose its meaning in the busyness of it all. I vow every year to start everything earlier so it is not so hectic and I can reflect on Christ’s birth more. I’m already gearing up so maybe this year will be the year. Thanks for your thoughts on this!
I was thinking about Christmas this week too…must be October or the fact that the drug store looks like the North Pole…
I found myself getting frustrated too…the commercialism and made a silent contract with myself for my family…peace and the REAL meaning…The birth of a Savior…You know it confirmed what I had been thinking..stop and think about how WE are going to embrace the season..not commercially, but gratefully and humbly…
wonderful thoughts…got me thinking..
peace,
lori
Interesting post! I am a first time visitor. I am going to read some more about the withdrawal from the institutional church. I feel we need to be more about Believers and less about our individual religion.
I’ve often thought it would be nice to celebrate Christmas in a less traditional way. Now that J & my parents are gone, there isn’t so much need to extended family. My son’s family spend the holidays with his wife’s family. But I still have my girls to think of. Maybe when we retire and are close again, they can all come to our house. I looked into renting a cabin for Thanksgiving but it was so expensive. Enough rambling!
Can’t wait to see what you decide.
Great post…I totally understand what you are talking about!! This year for Christmas we are staying home (no travelling) and spending it as a family here…I am looking forward to that!
[...] Hopeful Spirit wrote a fantastic post today on “Thankful Thursday: Free Will”Here’s ONLY a quick extractFor instance, I have always wanted to spend Christmas safely tucked into a cabin on a snow-covered hillside. I have always thought it would be lovely to spend Christmas Eve listening to carols and decorating a large pine tree with a … [...]
This blog really touched me today. Christmas is so near and dear to my heart and I work to take all of the commercialism out of it. We have deep rooted family traditions. I am blessed that my grandparents are still living so we join in their celebrations and we so enjoy it. But I also know that one day soon those traditions are going to change and in my heart I have the same desire to spend Christmas with just my family just as you have described in this post! Both scenarios I have envisioned for my family! How neat to read them here. I am so glad that you have found thankfulness in your circumstances. God bless you greatly and thanks for sharing!
If you have the time would you stop by my place? I have a very special prayer request. Thank-you.
Ugh! I don’t want to think about Christmas cards yet either. There are quite a few family traditions that I really wish we could do without. There’s so many family members who want us to visit during the holidays, and I should be thankful for the family — but it can get to be a bit much.
My husband and I have talked about setting up a manger scene and putting presents under it instead of a Christmas tree. I’m sure we’ll have a Christmas tree — just maybe not a huge one. Who knows what this year will bring? Thanks for the reminder that time is flying by though! I’m sure it’ll be here before we know it!
Christmas already!!?? The past few years have been amazing for us as a family. Someone from our family would be on a mission trip in Southeast Asia for 3 weeks at Christmas. We would have our own Christmas the 1st or 2nd week of January. There was no pressure, no hustle bustle. We enjoyed our time of being together as a family and sharing deeply from our hearts. Thanks for sharing today. Bless you.
Beautiful blog you have, and equally beautiful post that was.
I love Christmas time as well and am always happy to meet people who share my love for this time of the year which is- as mentioned- not supposed to be a highly stressful, commercialized time of year but rather a time of giving thanks to the son of God for having appeared and left us with countless blessings. In this world today where more and more people are condemning God and anything that has to do with Him, it’s a rare to find such pious people as you.
Just avoid the commercial part of Christmas as much as possible; it’s become a horrid celebration of consumerism.
Try to find a Catholic church doing a Tridentine mass at that time. _Christmas_ is good. ‘Yuletide’; the celebration of having enough to see you through the Winter, is meaningless now in this time of plenty.
Enjoy your journey of discovery to find your personal Christmas. I shall definitely be back to see where it takes you.
Interesting post. Nowadays, we don’t really enjoy our Christmas anymore. It so stressful. We are always very worried and busy trying to get the best gifts. And that’s the reason on why kids wait for Christmas. That’s so wrong. The values of teaching the next generations about the real meaning of Christmas is disappearing.
I hope you had the Christmas you envisioned. This title caught my eye, because I have been doing a study on “free will”. I don’t own the Message, so I enjoyed reading your quote from it. Thank goodness we can freely choose to serve him–it’s not forced on us by anyone. thanks for sharing this.
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