But since the rest of life proceeds more or less as usual, we still have to deal with everything we're currently dealing with and doing in our lives. Those things not go on hold or go away just because Christmas season is upon us. So all of this “good stuff” can really start to feel like a pressure cooker.
But if you think about it, the holiday season actually can be instructive because it's like a microcosm of the whole of life. The whole of life is this ever-changing menu of options and decisions. They just keep coming our way.
What we're doing with those options is determining the quality of our lives. What we need is a strategy, a plan for the holidays for sure. But moving forward into the New Year, we need a strategy for more sustainable, successful living in 2019.
Last week, we discussed one such strategy. We called it discernment. We don’t just discern the good from the bad, but the good from the greater good and the greater good from the greatest good.
When life presents more than one good option, discernment is about reflecting on the best one, the one that represents the best use of our time and resources, the one that will have the greatest impact to do the most good, the greatest good in the eyes of God.
God actually wants to get involved and really can help us out when it comes to making great decisions in life.
When we invite God into the decision making process, we find how God wants us to live. Discernment is also about understanding we have a choice. God has made us free to make decisions. He's made us capable of discernment. We have a choice, but so often, we act as if we don't, especially when it comes to the holidays.
When we act only out of obligation as we often do, we may be working against ourselves in self-defeating ways that are not really in sync with how God made us to be and live.
You choose to say, "Yes" just like you choose to say, "No." The best way to know when to say, "Yes" and when to say, "No" is to base your discernment in love. And that's what this series is really all about.
The next few weeks, we're looking at how we can grow in love, grow to love God more, to love others, and inspired by that love to make disciples by giving our very best yes.
Today, we're looking at the "growing to love God" part. Consider this passage from the Gospel today. "The word of God came to John the Baptist in the desert. He went throughout the whole region proclaiming a baptism for the forgiveness of sins."
John the Baptist, prepares for the coming of the Messiah by telling people to repent and baptizing them. The word repent has a negative connotation in our culture, and it is misused in many religious contexts. But here's what John meant. Repentance is all about three things, a change in thinking which leads to a change of heart, which eventually leads to a change in behavior.
To repent means, at an intellectual level, I realize I need to think differently because what I am doing isn't working. A change of thinking, when sustained, will usually lead to a change of heart.
In turn, a change of heart, when sincere and sustained, is going to bring a change in behavior, in decisions, and in choices we make.
You know God wants to give direction to our lives, towards what's best for us. But we stand in God’s way because we don't slow down to listen to Him and learn from Him, to get to know Him in a personal way. To get to know His will and His way for our lives, to change our mind, to change our heart, to change our lives.
When it comes to repentance, we tend to be in one of several places. In one place, we can find ourselves praying this prayer, "God I want what I want. Please, give me what I want."
That's the prayer many of us pray all the time. We tell God what we want and never slow down to ask if it's our best yes.
We have our mind made up about a decision or a choice, but we haven't yet stopped to consider what God says. We want what we want, and we never bother to ask God for his input.
If we're honest, we may actually be reluctant to ask God because we already know that we're not on the same page with Him. The funny thing about this attitude is, and we've all done it, when things go wrong, we turn around and blame God. "How could you let this happen to me?" When in fact, God was never part of the discussion. He was never part of the equation to begin with.
A second place that we can find ourselves when it comes to repentance is where we want to follow God, but only kind of, only sort of follow God. We recognize, perhaps even understand, God's will. We just haven't fully embraced it.
We may have repented and turned toward God in our mind, but it hasn't really reached our heart.
With this attitude, our prayer goes like this, "God I want what you want, but not yet. I want what you want, but for now, give me what I want."
However, real repentance, and the goal of the whole Christian life, is to come to a place of complete surrender. In that place, we can sincerely pray, "God, I want what you want. Please give me what you want. Help me to want what you want."
As best we can, we actively pursue God's way over more, and more, of our lives, with a goal of eventually coming to a place where we can trust God with the whole of our life. The greatest way to love God, the most efficient and effective way to love God, is to trust Him. That’s every Christian’s goal, trusting God with the whole of your life.
This is a great season to learn to trust God more. We call this season Advent which is a word that means coming. It’s about the coming, the advent, of grace and truth in our world.
This is the advent of grace and truth which is the coming of Jesus, the coming that changes everything. At least it can if we trust God. This Christmas, why not forget the anxiety, and the anxiousness of the season. Instead, invite the grace and truth of Jesus into your busyness. Trust Jesus. In a few minutes we will pray “Thy will be done”. Think about those words.
Perhaps, as your homework this week, when it comes to repentance, perhaps you could consider where you are when it comes to getting to know God better and His way for your life, allow Him to change your thinking, which will allow Him to change your heart, which will allow Him to change your life. When you do those things, you choose to give God, and give yourself, the Christmas gift of your very best yes.
Click here for the audio version of this homily.
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