holiday christianity

Bam! You scream, growl and whimper. Hopping away in severe pain, your knee slightly jarred and your toe is trembling. Your hand is faltering and searching for a surface to lean and balance against. It was a nice morning. Mrs Scriven’s homemade fruitcake had complimented your tea nicely. You had dropped the wife and kids at friend’s homes and returned the late DVD’s. The sprinkler was watering the lawn and the morning was now yours to enjoy. Time to lie down, put your feet up, relax and not think, and you hadn’t, not until this toe stumping moment. Suddenly every discussion from last Christmas is vividly recurring in your mind. You had promised your wife several times that you would fix the skirting and move the cement bags from the patio renovations. But you hadnt done it and now you pay the consequence.

The entire 2 weeks before Christmas you worked so hard to extend the patio because the in-laws were invading the Christmas break. It seems to be the same every holiday. the family is coming, so you clean, extend, plant, remove and re decorate half the house. So much effort goes into the portrayal of a pain free existence. But behind the façade lives a somewhat normal and slightly dysfunctional family.

Why do we do this? Fake life. Give our best when others are observing, in the hope they admire our standings and surmise we are established, happy and complete. Are we scared of normality? or is it, we are unsure of what normal is? is it that we live a slightly complacent life and the only opportunity to break that complacency is with a renovation or expansion every 6 months?

I often wonder how many people live holiday-to-holiday, conference to conference, opportunity for prayer to opportunity for prayer in their spiritual lives. Never really using their given space, time and function to its full ability. Rather, they compartmentalise their spiritual growth into quarterly calendered dates, and the only time they work on their spiritual lives is when they are on show, when the pastor is coming for dinner or when they are meeting with their mentor.

I wonder how many DIY Christians are building without a permit, ignoring the given guidelines for life. Jumping from one quick fix to the next hoping it’s a short cut to their destiny. hoping that maybe this spiritual extension will give them enough buzz till the next opportunity.

I find it unusual that the only time we remember what we had promised ourselves those many years ago is when we stump our spiritual toe on the corner of the bench called life. The determination of a new years revolution to read the bible more, prayer longer and worship harder is short lived because the thought is easier then the action; Our promises to give more and love more is overwhelmed by excuse after excuse; Life is full, I was tired, the kids needed me, Oprah was on.

I don’t want Easter to be the first time I’ve worked on my spiritual life since Christmas and the last time I work on it before next Christmas. I certainly don’t want my walk with God to be a façade which I quickly clean and rearrange when the family is coming and it is on show.

I determine each morning to thank God for his new mercies and fill my mind with Gods Word and my heart with His Love. Every opportunity I have in my day I strengthen my foundation, I stretch my beliefs and I challenge my convictions.

If the entirety of my reality is based upon protecting my true identity, then i have missed my calling. Because my reality should be reflection of my identity. Strong, God based and forever fresh.

- Reuben Leigh Skewes