November officially starts the holiday season. We begin to look forward to the festivities. You know, the way we celebrate the season. We all look at the TV programs about the way it is suppose to be celebrated and the way they make everything work out right in the end. WOW! I like the way they do it on TV. As I have gotten older and my children have gotten grown and my grand children are now becoming the focus of my Christmas, I remember that few of my Christmases have been like those on TV. I don't necessarily remember that they were not good, they just didn't all work out on Christmas Eve.
 

Being a pastor, I have been made aware that the holidays are not so very merry for all the people that celebrate. There are people that need to be reminded that what we have to celebrate does not always have to do with the way I feel. In fact, more often than not what I have to celebrate is in spite of the way I feel. Take Thanksgiving for instance. The first Thanksgiving was a true celebration alright, but things didn't work out like they were planned. This new country was everything they thought it would be and much much more and the much much more was not all good. The growing season was not what they thought it would be and the weather was so harsh that one half of their number died that first winter. Their food was in short supply, the housing was very inadequate, their clothing was not suited to the climate. Things really didn't turn out like they had them planned.
 

Those persons that sat down to that first Thanksgiving table surely had much to feel sorry about. All of them had lost family and friends only months or weeks ago. They did not gather to celebrate death. They gathered to celebrate life. They were still alive and so was the dream and hope that so many of us are continuing to hold on to. Our lives are not some TV show scripted for the climax on Christmas Eve. Our lives are a gift from an ever present God that loves us regardless of the harsh circumstances that surround our lives. God loves us! It is not our circumstances that influence God's love for us it is our faith that influences God. His love is for me and you. We celebrate Thanksgiving because God is good and loving not because everything has worked out alright for us. We celebrate Christmas because God gave us His only begotten Son to die on the cross of Calvary.

   
Holiday. The word is derived from Holy Day. May all of your holidays be holy days.