Post Christmas

I hope all have had a great Christmas. I know that having all my family, both kids their spouses and all my grand kids was great. On Christmas day they all took off to go to their in-laws and are expected back Saturday-Monday. The mix of family and church often is exhilarating and is tiring at the same time. Today i was able to sleep in for the first time in several days. I was also surprised that over the holiday I lost 2 pounds. So all the cookies and sweets that still around have not shown up yet. Having family who can eat most of them helps.
Christmas eve services went well. I continue to reflect on Jesus' earthly family. They could have complained and refused to listen to God at any time of the story. Yet, they did not and were so open to the changes that God brought into their lives. They risked scandal, people saying judgmental things about them and even calling them names. They traveled in the last month of Mary's pregnancy to a small town giving up their livelihood. They were homeless and jobless. Yet they never complained and made the best of their situation. They never expected anything from others even when they received the gifts that they did.
I wonder if I would be so willing to make the decisions that they did and never complain. Sometimes it makes me reflect on what really matters. Maybe what I got or did not get pales to what Jesus' family faced. There are many families who can identify with the Mary and Joseph. They too are jobless, homeless, and wonder if they will have enough to feed their children. My friend Dennis who was a missionary often spoke of the generous spirit of those who were the poorest of the poor. They would share their meager resources with others. In fact often were more generous than those who had an abundance of resources.
This day after Christmas let us thank God for what God has done for us and ask what is it that we can do for those in our community and throughout the world who may be like Christ's family without jobs and homes.