by Sara Sotelo, Communication Specialist, Compassion, Peace and Justice Ministry (Louisville, Kentucky)
With Christmas quickly approaching, it seems like more people go out of their way to do nice things for each other. Children are on their best behavior, more people go to church, and people in the holiday spirit donate more money to charities. The Christmas spirit spreads like wildfire, and December seems to be one of the happiest months of the year. My question is: Why can’t the Christmas spirit last all year long? Shouldn’t it?
In Isaiah’s song, God did everything he could to prepare the vineyard for a good harvest, yet it only produced wild grapes. Is there a difference between the “Christmas grapes” you’re producing for God and the grapes you’re producing for God the rest of the year?
If we take time to reflect on this, we will see that God has given us everything we need to produce good grapes and that doing these good things for God during the Christmas season shouldn’t just be a Christmas thing. It’s up to us to produce good grapes every month of the year.
PRAYER
O God, thank you for preparing and giving us everything we need to produce good grapes. Help us stay on our path once we have found the way. In Jesus’ name, we pray. Amen.