:: In.a.Mirror.Dimly ::

Every celebrity athlete seems to have some kind of diet plan or workout guide, and every self-help expert faces the temptation of writing a book with principles for healthy living, ways to love the real you.

With the holidays, we face the temptation of falling prey to high calorie desserts and the potential mess of giving or receiving the wrong kinds of presents. It seems we need an authoritative word on the holidays to save us from such a terrible fate: extra pounds and expensive presents we can’t return.

Thankfully Jesus is on the job.

After healing throngs of people along the Sea of Galilee, he shared the following guide to holiday happiness:

Looking at his disciples, he said:

Blessed are you who are poor,

for yours is the kingdom of God.

Blessed are you who hunger now,

for you will be satisfied.

Blessed are you who weep now,

for you will laugh.

Blessed are you when men hate you,

when they exclude you and insult you

and reject your name as evil, because of the Son of Man.

Matters become decidedly dicey in the following verses (Luke 6:23-26) for us affluent folks in America, so we’ll pass on that part for now. Besides, we want to know how to have a blessed holiday season, and Jesus makes the path to blessings as plain as day: poverty, hunger, weeping, and exclusion because of following Jesus.

We don’t have to buy or own presents to be blessed.

We don’t have to be stuffed with food to be blessed.

We don’t have to be happy to be blessed.

We don’t have to be part of the in-crowd to be blessed.

It’s kind of relieving if you ask me. Late night shopping trips aren’t necessary. Buying those expandable pants isn’t going to happen. And we don’t have to worry about family conflict ruining the holidays. That is, if we are willing to follow Jesus.

Jesus essentially says the American dream or our holiday narrative will not bring the blessings we are looking for. In fact, there’s a sense in which the pursuit of food, happiness, and satisfaction in material things may well wreck us. When our treasure is stored up with God, then we will have something to rejoice about and then we will have what we truly need.

And so what should we do with this challenge from Jesus? I wonder if there are people we know who are mourning or just lonely who need support this time of year. Can we help out a poor family by picking them up some gifts? Can we contact a local nonprofit organization and offer to help out during the holidays? Can we make an extra shopping trip to help out the local food cupboard?

I think it’s wonderful to give gifts to friends and family, but if we don’t have time to do these things, the things that Jesus says are most important, then perhaps we’re missing out on God’s blessings for us, to say nothing of the blessings we’re holding back from others. I’m hardly a saint with a long history of sacrificial giving, but in my limited experience, giving in the ways that Jesus recommends always brings blessings back. These are not material rewards mind you, but rather a sense of true joy that I have helped someone. And while I’m doing the work that Jesus asked me to do, I forget about my problems, about the traffic, about the sales, and about the stress at work.

When Jesus asks us to follow him, leaving the pursuits of this world behind to receive the life he gives, there is a sense in which we will have to lose some of the things this world has to offer. But he is never lacking in blessings.