Be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only...James 1:22
Six clear glass bowls, each filled with a different colored solution - red, blue, green, yellow, orange and purple - sat on the kitchen table. A bowlful of hard boiled eggs accompanied the colorful presentation.
The mother called her children to her and carefully explained the procedure for dying Easter eggs. The three-year-old tried to balance the wire holder as she carefully dipped an egg into red.
The four-year-old, eager for the task, grabbed an egg and plunged it into purple, hand and all. The mother dried the boy’s hand and explained the procedure again. This time, he followed directions.
Watching each egg slowly turned from white to a different color delighted the children. They chattered as the magic occurred before their eyes. Although the experience proved a trying time for the mother, she stayed with the project. She refrained from doing it herself because the children obviously enjoyed the opportunity to make their own Easter eggs far more than meekly accepting a basket already filled with perfectly dyed eggs.
After the mother had removed the bowls of dye and cleaned up the messy table, she took the child to the sink to wash his well stained hand. No amount of soap and water diminished the color. The father took over, but the dye had done its job well.
And so the boy, decked out in his Easter finest, went to church the next day with a purple hand. Of course as people commented, the youngster proudly explained that he had dyed his own Easter eggs. His friends, especially those whose parents had deemed them too young for such a project, marveled at the purple hand. The adults smiled wistfully, remembering...
... what? ...perhaps, times past when tackling a new challenge also colored their lives as brilliantly as the child’s purple hand...the present when new challenges more often than not appear as old hassles. What now generates such sheer pleasure?
During this month of Christmas time, churches everywhere invite their children to get in on the act with Nativity pageants. Even when the young, amateurish actors break into giggles because of missed lines, the message gradually etches itself on the hearts of the young just from the doing. Always, we learn more from hands-on experiences than from lecture only. At what point do we forfeit the role of participants in living and become mere spectators?
Everywhere we turn, we encounter those who want someone else or some modern gadget to do the work because they are bored or can’t be bothered. However, we find ourselves seeking the company of those who still find real joy not only in a job well done, but more importantly in actually doing the work themselves.
Throughout the Bible, we read the words do, doing, doers time and time again. The Christmas story and the Great Commandment requires far more than merely refraining from evil; they invite us to participate like Jesus in doing good for others with all of our heart, soul and mind.
Although only four or five months pass between Christmas Day and Easter, this brief time period represents the short life of the One who lived on earth not only preaching the Good News but more importantly living it by doing good for others, and thus changing the world forever. Despite our despair that the commercial world’s start of Christmas promos begins in October, Advent itself, the time of preparation for the coming of the Christ Child, spans almost four weeks. Although the secular world ignores Easter, Christians observe 40 days of Lent, the preparation time for Easter.
These holy seasons invite us to spend more time in preparation, more time in doing, more time in living their messages daily, than in the celebration.
May your observance of Christmas this month make happy your whole new year.
2004