Decorations surround us, especially this time of year.
Humans decorate our homes, places of business, churches, public spaces and even ourselves.
In the past few days, we have gotten a 2-foot tall white tabletop tree and a few special ornaments to decorate simply for Christmas. My ornament is a wooden bear silhouette with a snowy scene painted on its side.
My office also has a bear-themed wall clock and two bear paintings hang in our living room. You could say it’s a theme.
Each year our office has set up a large lighted tree and a Christmas cactus from a few years back has somehow survived on the receptionist’s counter, though a number of people have helped themselves to sprigs from it.
Our city is already decorating and it won’t be long before the 32-foot-tall tree is erected downtown. I’ll wear a Christmas-themed shirt to church tonight for our annual packing party for Operation Christmas Child donations.
We decorate for Christmas because we celebrate Christmas.
Year-round, we decorate too.
We put plants on the porch and table. We hang paintings (bears?) and photos. We put up all types of things that tell a little about who we are and what’s important to us.
Photos of my children and a few friends — who are family for all practical purposes — adorn my desk area. Paintings by a friend hang on the wall by the coffee bar, displaying area landmarks.
I even have decorations on my body — platinum toned spiked earrings (just because I like them) and a tattoo of a Bible passage very dear to me (Ephesians 2:8-10).
People make determinations about who we are and what’s important to us when they see us, speak with us and observe our actions.
Our chosen decorations reveal some of who we are on the inside. Unless, of course, we are putting up facades — false fronts that may be attractive but are not who we really are.
I think what you see is what you get with me. I hope so, at least. I want people to see my heart — one that cares about them because God cares about them.
I hope all my decorations in all of my life point to Jesus, because I am so glad to know him.
I want to “decorate” for him because I want to celebrate him.
Honestly, we all do decorate for what we celebrate.
Send Brett Campbellyour Chunky news. He can be reached at ChunkyBrett@mail.com.
