I didn't go to church yesterday.

     That's right, I didn't go to church yesterday.  Mother's Day isn't what I would call a positive day in the Christian sense.  It's okay for those who have mothers who were loving and encouraging.  Mother's day isn't that for many people.  Then there are those Christians who haven't been able to have children and there is no Mother's Day.  Put those along with those who have had abortions and then became believers and you have the perfect storm.  What about those men who's mothers abandoned them?  Yes, the same argument can be made for Father's Day as well.  The "holiday" is industry created and seeks to divide people into different groups.  It takes a skilled pastor to offer a single themed sermon that doesn't offend those who are outside looking in.  Wounded and healing people come together to be one in the church so that the wounds can be bound up and the healing takes place.  That doesn't mean that the Christian can't celebrate Mother's Day or Father's Day at all.  What it means is that we need to find a means to celebrate Jesus first and foremost.  He was neither a mother or a father and yet he's found playing second fiddle on holidays such as these.  He did bind up the broken hearted and heal the wounded.  That's what should be celebrated. 
     Holidays invented by mankind intentionally or unintentionally cause separation and split the Christian community.  That's true about all holidays.  When the holiday is celebrated to the point where commercialism is foremost and Jesus is not; the devil is in there messing with God's children.  The sad part is that we encourage this and know better.  That would make it a sin.  Easter eggs have nothing to do with Jesus.  Neither does the commercialism of Christmas.  The "animal" blessing day has nothing to do with Jesus.  You get the drift.  Unless you and I can see Jesus as foremost and uplifted while the Gospel is being preached there is no Jesus in that celebration.  And that's just why the devil loves doing this.  Disciplining ourselves to keep Jesus first means that we need to buck the trend and pave the way for believers everywhere to see Jesus in all that we do.  One of the issues that got the Israelites out of God's favor was their engaging the celebrations and eventual worship of other holidays and other gods.  Which weren't gods at all.  This demurring of the deity of God leads to separation from God.  Most Christians don't want to do that while others find a means of inclusivity to the bane of true believers.  The Bible says that Christians will be known by the fruit they bare.  Is that true?  Then the church had better take a serious look at all the mixed or wrong messages it generates.
     Within the world there are enough secular activities and standards to take us away from what is truly important.  Jesus.  We don't need to engage them or add them to our experience as if they represent Jesus in some form or another.  Because they don't.  When we take these holidays or celebrations and set them above the Gospel, we are worshipping false Gods.  There are no arguments with Scripture that states so.  Yet, there are some who remain true to the Gospel.  There are celebrations of holidays but the focus is on Jesus.  There are seasons marking the traditions that have been set up but above them you can see Jesus as primary.  Many are strong in their stance for and against this topic.  The Word has the final say.  The first commandment states "You shall have no other gods before me,"  None.  If our eyes are off Jesus they are on something else.  Holidays represent a legitimate reason to drink, party and be un-Christ-like. But is that what you want your life to point to?  Do you want to put Jesus away so that you can join in and then say, "Well, everyone else is doing it."?  Remember, it's always your choice.