The Idolatry of Tradition

Funny how my depravity drives me to write and then share it with the world.

I know it was just last Christmas season that I wrote about how I needed to make room for Baby Jesus in my hot mess...and here I am again...clearly having not learned this lesson on a deep enough level. 

We have been working on a house project and the house is rather messy...and rather...deconstructed. Thinking of decorating for Christmas in this mess is challenging. It has also been challenging for a couple of the kids too. This past semester has also been much busier than semester’s past--hello high school! Just trying to find a night where we were all home to decorate for Christmas was a challenge!

I’ve been getting a lot of questions like:

• When can we decorate the tree? {We usually try for the first of December...but that didn’t happen.}
• Are we going to make cookies for when we decorate the tree? {Quite honestly, now that I am gluten-free...I am not excited about this cookie baking thing.}
• Will the project be finished before we decorate? {We might be looking at a February or March project completion date.}

To top it all off, we still haven’t taken our annual Christmas Card photo. I can’t even….there are no words.

As I started to get stressed and upset about both my internal desires and expectations and the expectations and desires of my kids, I realized how much of an idol I make our Christmas traditions. I make the “good things” of Christmas the “best” things of Christmas. I get so focused on the little things that I forget the BEST thing. I have passed this on to my kids. We talked about it--named it, faced it, confessed it….and yet, still struggle with it.

Yet again, I am reminded of Psalm 51:16-17 which says “For you will not delight in sacrifice, or I would give it; you will not be pleased with a burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.”

While our good deeds (and perhaps the good traditions) are an expression of our faith, the BEST thing we can “do” is humbly come before the King of Kings, Jesus Christ, and offer our hearts--confessing our pride and our brokeness. 

So, here I am publicly confessing my brokeness and pride and idolatry. 

And...I am so glad that Christmas reminds me of the HOPE I have and the HOPE that is to come. The GRACE that is mine through Christ. I hope that you too will be reminded of the HOPE you have and the GRACE that is available through Christ.

A Time of Reflection