Because I Get to...

Last week, my health veered in a direction I’d rather not go. I’ve been having severe abdominal and lower back pain in the form of abdominal migraines. Yes, they’re a thing, and they are not fun. I’ve been in and out of the hospital and doctors’ offices all week, though we still don’t know the source or cause of this ordeal.

Last night, our church hosted our largest outreach event of the year; and I was there greeting hundreds of guests on the Field of Faith next to our church buildings in a red sport coat, a lit jingle bell necklace, and no small amount of pain. Countless, well-meaning, and gracious church members let me know that they had things covered, and that I “did not have to be there.” I thanked each with a smile and told them that I wanted to be there.

It never crossed my mind that I had to be there. I viewed it the same way I view preaching, teaching, writing, and counseling – I get to do this. Not everyone has been given the opportunities I have. Obligation is a death sentence in ministry. I do what I do because I’m grateful that I have been invited, trusted, and called to do so.

As I type, my wife is hanging holly and putting up another Christmas tree in our house, without my help, in preparation for guests arriving next weekend. As she stood on a stool, stretching to the outer limits of her reach, I told her that she didn’t have to decorate so much. She stepped off the stool, looked me in the eyes, and reminded me that just a few years ago, she was frail, bald, and struggling in her battle against cancer. We didn’t know if she’d have another Christmas with us. She told me, “I do not have to decorate for our friends and family. I get to decorate for them. I’m going to do what I can do because I may never get to again.” Then she continued singing Christmas carols and hanging ornaments with a smile.

It's interesting how our perspective can completely change how we do something. One can approach the same task or responsibility from the perspective of having to do it or getting to do it, and it completely changes how we feel, what we do, and how we do it.

This Christmas, I’d like to challenge your perspective.

What is it that you think you must do?

How might your heart, your interactions, and your results change if you changed your perspective to “I get to do this”?  

Consider your friends and family. This is likely to be someone’s last Christmas with you. Some of you have unknowingly experienced a last Christmas with a loved one already. You know how quickly life can change. Most regrets come from unintentionally, or even spitefully, putting secondary things first, and allowing real opportunities to love and be loved slip by. You will never again have the same opportunities to love and be loved that you have this Christmas.

Maybe it’s time to let bygones be bygones.

Maybe it’s time to forgive.

Maybe it’s time to initiate reconciliation.

Maybe this is the year to lean into your family and take a little more time off work.

Maybe it’s the year to lean into your church family and embrace ministry opportunities.

Maybe it’s the year to invite someone who may be alone to join your family for Christmas celebrations.

Maybe it’s the year to speak some previously unspoken words of love or commitment.

Neither your friends, your family, nor Jesus want you to simply meet obligations this Christmas. They want you to love and be loved extraordinarily because you get to.