Originally posted 12/23/12
When I became convinced of the Messianic perspective I truly wanted to align my life with Torah. I began eating according to Leviticus 11 and Deuteronomy 14. I began observing a Saturday Sabbath and I kept all the feasts of the Lord as described in Leviticus 23. It was liberating and exhilarating! However, I also ran into some obstacles! There were family feelings and traditions that I couldn't just sweep away and rearrange to my liking. So, I have often found myself in a dilemma. How do you maneuver between what you perceive as right and the ways of others that you no longer adhere to?
As Christmas approached I was really not enjoying the season. If I had been on an island by myself I would have celebrated Yeshua's birth at the Feast of Tabernacles and I would have ignored December 25th. But most of my family would have thought me crazy or weird and would have been hurt by my wanting to alter Christmas, so I knew that I had to "go along" to a certain degree.
Christmas is in two days. My gifts are wrapped and are waiting in a corner of our living room. (We don't have a Christmas tree. This is my one refusal in light of the pagan origins of the holiday.) We will have our Christmas. I wish we could do it differently. Maybe we will next year!
Yet, through all the Christmas-ness of the season, the well wishes, the feelings of care and love, family, holiday movies, and the very real meaning of the birth of Yeshua, I still have felt that spark of gratitude to God for the reason for the season, as they say. If Yeshua had not been born where would we all be? We would be doomed for a Godless eternity in Hell. So in focusing on the meaning of Yeshua's birth rather than on the traditions and the specific day, I am feeling His love and I want and need to share!
To all my readers, family, and friends, have a very blessed Christmas!
May you and your loved ones have a very Merry Christmas, Renee. While I know the Jewish New Year, both civil and festive New Year, comes on a different date than January 1, I still want to wish you a very prosperous and Happy New Year!
ReplyDeleteThank you so much! Have a wonderful and happy New Year as well!
DeleteOur pastor gave such a stirring message yesterday about the promise of Christmas, beginning with the sin question raised in Genesis. He wove it through the story of Abraham; of how the blessed hope of all mankind would come through His progeny. He tethered it to man's rebellion in seeking a king; and to the prophets portrayals of a suffering Messiah. At the end of the day, Christmas is our (the believer's) way of rejoicing in the hope that Jesus was, and is, and will be.
ReplyDeleteA blessed & joy-filled Christmas to you!
Kathleen
Thank you! I would have liked to have heard your pastor's message, it sounds very, very good!
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