Living in the aftermath.

     It's all about utilizing what you have to the best of your ability.  I'm talking about left overs!  Okay, and the Christian as well.  The feast is over and like most people I've eaten more than I should have.  I didn't stop myself and enjoyed most every bite.  I felt the need to clean up my plate and then have pie as well!  All the time knowing my blood sugars would spike and there would be an absence of exercise except the fork to mouth and folding out of the recliner.  Am I the only one?  I greatly doubt it.  Meanwhile, many people put on their best "face" in order to have the holiday together just like they did last holiday and will do the next holiday.  It's a shame because the rest of the year doesn't reflect that "face" much at all.  The aftermath of our celebrating, eating and community becomes a façade to the world much like our thinking going to church on Sunday and Wednesday nights is all that is required of the Christian.  Forgetting what we've experienced and know the other days of the week and months of the years.  Fill up, have coffee and treats, comment on the sermon, give your friends a hug and go home.  That's it.  What is missing is the message that we, like Jesus, are called to be able to give an account of the hope that is within us every hour of every day.
     There has got to be more.  Not to us but from us.  So, yesterday at dinner we shared food, laughs and a lesson.  The lessor was for the past, present and future.  The episode began when one teenage male attendee was goofing around and gave a Hitler salute while talking with his cousin.  It bothered me but I didn't want to spoil the party.  I began by asking him trivia questions about our national holiday and how it came to be.  That morphed nicely into the cost by which Thanksgiving actually was about.  When the number of servicemen and women who gave their lives for OUR freedom, the moment took on another dimension.  God prompted me to talk about the Holocaust and I told stories about the current usage of the "salute" by disgruntled voters to those who still cling to the thinking that there is a superior race.  We also talked about various Christian and Jewish people and their very real experience with concentration camps and death of family members.  All of this culminated in a lesson about forgiveness, it's difficulty and it's freedom.  The end statement was the surrender of one man's life so that all who choose could have life eternal for the asking.   The table had grown quiet and not people began to talk.  Really talk...just as it should be. 
     The aftermath was a reminder of why we are charged to live fully the Christian life in a manner that keeps the past alive, the present thriving and providing hope for the future.  Yes, life can be light and full of humor.  There's nothing wrong with that at all.  Yes, life can be serious.  Same thing.  Sometimes our depth of humor is the most wonderful element  Sometimes we need to have the balance and not neglect the REAL reason we are celebrating the holiday in the first place.  It would be good for those who are elderly, those who are middle aged and those who are young.  Why?  Because that's what we are to do in order to have a balanced life in Christ.  If we forget the past we are doomed to revisit it in the future.  That's the aftermath...and it's your choice.  I'll have a piece of pumpkin pie for breakfast!