Savor This Christmas

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…We can remember yesterday. We can dream about tomorrow. But today is the only day we can savor.

Last week after my friend Cathy’s heart surgery, the nurse gave her only a small sip of ice water, and told her to swish it in her mouth, to savor it. Despite her pain, she seemed to be refreshed by savoring that tiny sip. I thank God she is now doing so well one week out from her quadruple bypass.

It is easy to savor the good moments of our lives but not so easy when it comes to savoring life through the hard times.

God’s plan for us is not all about the destination, but the journey itself. God means for us to embrace every part of our walk with Him. In the good times, He is lavishing His love on us. In the hard times, He is showing us that He is our Provider. He never wastes a single blessing, a single trial in our lives.

In our pain, Jesus might be gifting us with the fellowship of suffering to give us the tiniest glimpse of His suffering on the cross and a deeper understanding of who He is. Through our trials, if we let Him, He grows our faith and the Fruit of the Spirit in our lives, patience.

James 1:2-4 says, “Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.

Transformation is a process, and as life happens there are tons of ups and downs. It’s a journey of discovery – there are moments on mountaintops and moments in deep valleys of despair. —Rick Warren

Sometimes the best thing you can do is to stop what you are doing and take time to drink life in, to carefully etch the moment into your memory so that when it is passed, you can remember the lesson, the blessing, and this part of the journey. Believe it or not taking a picture with your mind’s eye is even better than taking one with your phone.

As Dwight D. Eisenhower once put it. “Don’t just do something, stand there.” This Christmas it may be time to put down the camera and just stand there. Savoring. Drinking it in.

Sunday night my husband’s family was over to celebrate Christmas with us. As I sat and watched the room full of giggles and love from our littlest one-year-old great nephew to my 82 and 83-year-old father in law and mother in law and the rest of my family in between, my heart filled to overflowing. I wanted so much to freeze that moment in time. But I knew I could not, so I did the next best thing. I savored it.

Later, my daughter in law told me that she noticed I could not stop smiling that night. It was true. And, I did not want to stop smiling.

We all know that life can change in an instant. We are not promised tomorrow, and things can change quickly. Just a few years ago, I was enjoying Christmas with both my parents, now they are both celebrating in Heaven with Jesus. Not long ago, I was rocking my little boys, and now they are 6 foot tall—one 23 and married, and the other 17 and he thinks he is going on 30.

I am so thankful that God gave us the gift of savoring. I can go back in my mind to Christmases of the past, the happy, the sweet, the bittersweet and the outright sad. To the time my mom and dad gave me my first stereo. To the last Christmases with each of my parents, and to the first Christmases without them. To our first Christmas as new parents. To the year my 3-year old asked for candy corn and pickles. To Christmas last year with my new daughter in law. These are sweet memories, family times and love that will be with me all my life.

I can also pull out my Bible, turn to Luke (my favorite), and go back to the night so long ago when the Master of the Universe humbled Himself to be born as a tiny baby in a dirty manger. There is no lower place on earth to be born. He left the majesty of Heaven to come solely to be an example for me, and to give His life so that I could live with Him and my loved ones in Paradise for eternity.  He did all that for me. He walks with me through this journey every day, and He gave me wonderful friends and family to help make it so special along the way.

What sacrifice … What love … What a Savior!! …

Savor this Christmas.

Dear Lord: Thank You for the journey, and for walking through it all with us. Thank You for sending Your Son Jesus to be born in a manger, live a sinless life and sacrifice His life for our sins.  You loved us so much, even when we were not lovely to You. Let us never forget to savor Your greatest gift ever given, Jesus. Amen

For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. 2 Corinthians 4:17

Do not fear, for I am with you; do not be afraid, for I am your God. I will strengthen you; I will help you; I will hold on to you with My righteous right hand.  Isaiah 41:10

For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. John 3:16

Are you savoring this Christmas? Remember to take time to stop and drink it all in—faith, family and friends. Please share your comments, thoughts and experiences.

Thank you for reading and sharing my blogpost. May God bless you and your family as you savor His gifts this wonderful Christmas season!

 

Posted in Christmas, Faith, Family, Love, Our Journey, Perseverance permalink

About Sharon Hawkins

Sharon Hawkins wants others to know that she is totally in love with Jesus. Through hardships, trials and blessings, she has learned that there is no end to His mercy, His grace and His faithfulness. There’s simply no better friend than Jesus. In 2008, she answered God’s calling to begin a Ministry called Grace in The Wilderness. She loves to encourage other people, and, through the Ministry’s Newsletters and Conferences, she and others are challenging women and teens to discover Christ in a new and deeper way, who they are in Him and His plan for their lives. She has been a business owner for the last twenty years. Five years ago, she learned about forgiveness at a new level with the betrayal of a close friend who embezzled from her business and was sent to prison. Sharon has experienced God’s incredible grace through adversity during breast cancer and melanoma diagnoses and multiple surgeries that have perpetuated a continuing painful nerve illness. Both cancers were stage 1 and she has now been cancer free for four years. Her cancer journey is chronicled at www.caringbridge.org/visit/sharonhawkins. Recently, she sold a large part of her business as God has prepared her to turn a page in her life and focus more on ministry. With God’s amazing provision and the support of her wonderful friends and family—husband, Scott, and sons, Taylor and Bradley, Sharon is, not only surviving her wilderness one day at a time, but finding that His grace is more than sufficient no matter what.

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