Don't Look Back

This year my sister and brother-in-law aren't able to come to our home for Christmas. Because of this, my parents came to my neck of the woods this past weekend to visit and begin some new Christmas traditions. Weeks prior to their visit I asked around my office to see what kind of holiday events people tend to make their annual tradition during the Christmas season over on this side of the state. I was told of places such as, where we could go to see Christmas traditions from around the world on display at a local museum, that the Sound of Music was being put on Broadway, we could pet a live reindeer at a local flower sh, and a tour of thousands of Christmas lite displays at a local ballpark. 

As you can see, we chose the Christmas Lite tour! This shot shows Santa on a helicopter 

We really enjoyed the lite tour and even though I didn't get a photo of it, my favorite one was of a silly dragon that looked as if he was swooshing in and out of the snow. Reminded me of my favorite childhood movie, Puff the Magic Dragon. We probably won't make this lite tour our new Christmas tradition, but I could definitely see why this would be a tradition for families with young children. Finding a new tradition wasn't the only reason that my parents and I went on this adventure, we went to make new memories, and new ones sure were made! One of my favorites was when my mom and I were slowly driving through a snow storm and not really caring because we were too busy singing a Christmas duet along with the radio. Or the one where my dad made it his priority to find me the best new tires for my truck. I soon won't forget when the three of us exited a movie theater laughing hysterically because Tyler Perry just has that power over his audience. As is the case with most families during the Christmas season there were times where our attitudes weren't so pretty or things were forgotten thus causing one of us to be a bit irritated with one another...

When my mom and I get together the thing we love most to do together is talk! One of the many conversations that my mom and I had over the weekend dealt with the story of Sodom & Gomorrah (not exactly a Christmas story, but hear me out :o). We were discussing how God saved Lot, his wife and their two daughters from that sinful city because of Lot letting the two angel's of the Lord spend the night in his house, thus they spared his and his family's lives. What we remembered most, and maybe you do, too, is that Lot's wife looked back as they were fleeing and she was turned into a pillar of salt. 

Mom and I were quite confused as to why God would turn her into a pillar of salt just for looking back. I mean, that was her home. That was where all her good and bad memories were made with her family and friends. Even though she was being an obedient wife and fleeing the city, I'm sure she felt the grief and uncertainty of her future crumbling away and she wanted one final glance.

Thankfully I don't think God is into turning people into pillars of salt when we fail to do His will and instinctively look back...I can see the similarities of Lot's wife and the memories that were made with my family this weekend and during other Christmas adventures. It's tempting to focus on the things that went wrong (like when I lost my cool when our short shopping trip turned into a long two hour shopping spree) when my family is doing activities. But I believe that God doesn't want us to look back on memories that irritate or make us sad. He wants us to remember the good times and focus on those types of memories. I know that the Christmas season can be hard for a lot of people because of the stress that is associated with it and the bad memories that are there. I challenge you to use this season to focus on the fun and on His Son's birth - the greatest memory of all.  

What are some of your favorite Christmas memories or traditions that you do with family and/or friends?

-A