1 John 2
A husband and wife had been married for 60 years and had no secrets except for one: The woman kept in her closet a box that she forbade her husband from ever opening. But when she was on her deathbed—and with her blessing—he opened the box and found a crocheted doll and $25,000 in cash.
When the husband asked for the explanation she said, "My mother told me that the secret to a happy marriage was to never argue." Then she explained, "Instead, I should keep quiet and crochet a doll."
Well, her husband was touched. Only one doll was in the box—that meant she'd been angry with him only once in 60 years. "But what about all this money?" he asked.
"Oh," she said, "that's the money I made from selling the dolls."
Getting along with people is hard. It is particularly hard at Christmas. The best part of Christmas is being with members of your family. Do you know what the worst part is? You guessed it. Being together with members of your family. It would be funny, if it weren't true. Right? Unfortunately, Christmas is that time of year when all the imperfections we bring to the family table are difficult to digest. We know too much about each other to be sufficiently tolerant. And yet quite often we don't know nearly enough about what goes on in the hearts and minds of our families.
In his letter, the apostle John gives us clear guidelines for our Christmas gatherings, "but if anyone obeys his word, God's love is truly made complete in him." This is the secret to thriving at Christmas - having God's love made complete in us. It is out of the overabundance of God's perfect love that we draw our love for others. And when we connect with Jesus and have his love flood our hearts, that becomes the reservoir we draw from. So, in the end, the vertical love from God determines our horizontal love for others.
As we begin the month of December, the goal is to daily draw so close to Jesus and his love that you can pour that love out on your family, friends, church family and that special draining person in your life.
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