By Brad Campbell –

Just a thought to help start your week.

The Christmas season, and truthfully the entire holiday season from Thanksgiving through New Year’s Day, is full of traditions.  We look forward to this time of year when we will go the same places as before, eat the same foods, play the same games, listen to the same music, participate in the same programs and parties, and sometimes even re-gift the same presents!

Why is it that we so look forward to doing exactly the same things we’ve done on Christmases past?  Perhaps it’s because of comfort, stability, and tradition that we don’t often enjoy the rest of the year due to ridiculously busy schedules and overstretched lives.

Traditions can be good.  This picture of our kitchen table shows one of ours.  Every year, we make batches and batches of what we just call chex mix – sometimes referred to as ‘nuts and bolts.’  Why do we do this every year?  Well, for several reasons.  We enjoy the activity, we enjoy eating the results, we share with friends and neighbors, we package it up to send home with the now-grown kiddos, and we do it simply because it’s one of our traditions.

It’s one of those simple things that helps us feel like we’ve gotten to that wonderful holiday season yet again.  And, if yours is as busy as ours, then you understand that it’s the little things – like spending an afternoon in the kitchen – that keep things as ‘normal’ as our crazy lives can be.

Tradition.  What we must beware of is getting lost in the traditions, or simply going through the moves without remembering the true Reason for the Season – Jesus Himself.  You see, ultimately, it’s Jesus that we are to share with our friends and neighbors, it’s Jesus that we’re to share with our kiddos regardless of their ages (or ours!), and it’s Jesus that makes this Christmas and every other day of the year so comforting.

Even when the world fails you in so many other ways, cling to Jesus!  He’s the tradition that will never change!  And that thought brings great comfort!

Just a thought.