Gatherings

So, how many Christmas gatherings did you plan to attend this year? Got one for your family? And your in-laws? Maybe an office party or even a church function? You probably have a handful of opportunities to partake in festive gatherings this year.
But how many of them do you want to attend? Let’s be honest for a moment…are there some Christmas gatherings that you know you’ll attend but honestly you’d rather walk across Legos barefoot than be at it? Maybe it’s just me, but often times those gatherings add so much stress to this time of year that I wonder if it’s worth it.
And we do it every year, right? Even throughout the year. We get together because we think we should or because our spouse or boss makes us or simply because we can’t come up with an excuse to skip. And then on top of it, we often feel guilty that we don’t want to go, like we are horrible people or something.
But the thing is, we aren’t horrible people for not wanting to go. It’s natural to want to avoid awkward or hard situations. It’s natural to want to skip out when we know we won’t get much out of it. It’s natural to want to stay home when we’ve been busy all throughout the week. But then we know, intuitively, that we need relationships. That we need community. That we need others.
And so the struggle is real. And some of us are staring it in the face right now. And I’m not going to be your excuse for not going, so don’t hear me saying that you can skip your in-laws Christmas. But I’m not a big fan of doing things because we should or even avoiding things because we shouldn’t.
But I do believe that there’s a reason for getting together. However, I think we’ve lost that in our culture in many ways. We’ve made many of our gatherings obligatory and required. From Sunday morning church to family Christmas parties, we feel obliged, so we go. But that’s not what God wants from us. He doesn’t want us to do anything because we should. He wants us to do things out of love. To do things out of a desire to help and encourage others and to know him better.
And that’s why we should get together. Because of love. Not the warm, Hallmark movie feeling, but the decision to love others around us. And God primarily desires for that to come in the form of his followers who are committed to meeting together. He wants to see his church (his collective church) gather together to encourage one another.
So, if you’re not connected to a church, now is a great time to start. I pray you find uplifting and encouraging relationships and people who desire to love you. God bless.