Welcome to Heart of the Matter Media with author and host, Cynthia L. Simmons. How does a godly woman live in a world out of sync? Cynthia digs into the issues women face in our complex culture to set a path to the chaos.
It's for women seeking the elegance of God's wisdom. So prepare yourself to listen, learn, and rest. Now here's your host, Cynthia L. Simmons.
I've been encouraging women this year to create a memory at Christmas time. Because when you think about it, when your life is over, you are not going to wish that you had bought one more gift or that you had put up one more decoration. You are going to care about the people in your life. And so I want to share a memory of mine with you.
Like, when I was a little girl, they sold icicles to go on Christmas trees. And the icicles were like little pieces of aluminum, little tiny strips. And you would take one strip, or at least Mother, that's what Mother wanted me to do, was to take one tiny strip and hang one of them on the tree at a time. Well, that was very slow and a little boring for me.
So I wanted to do something a little more exciting. And I discovered that if you threw the icicles up in the air, that they landed in such interesting shapes and the light would hit them, it would make it really very pretty. So I would start to throw them. And Mother would catch me and she would say, No, you have to do them one at a time.
And she'd show me again. So I'd go, All right, all right, I'll do it. So I'd do them one at a time until she turned her back. And then I was throwing him again.
Because, first of all, it was faster. And it was prettier. They made interesting shapes. Of course, now that I'm grown, I understand that Mother was concerned about money and she didn't want to have to buy more icicles next year because they were expensive for her.
So sometimes when we are spending time with our family or with our kids, we don't always communicate real clearly about what really is on our mind and what really matters. Because if she had explained, maybe I'd be a little bit more willing to have done it. And so we've got to be careful that the messages that we give are carefully crafted so that our kids give them and our family gives them. For instance, you want your family and your friends to know that you love them, even though maybe you disagree on something.
Well, back in Jesus' day, they lived in difficult times. They had, just like now, they had to be careful how much money they spent and they were worried about their provision and their food and their clothing. But Jesus made a very profound statement. I'm going to read it to you.
It's out of 12, 23. He says, Life is more than food and the body is more than clothing. Well, you know, that's pretty profound. In fact, when I was a kid, I thought that my body, my internal organs, and my stomach did something for the world that was absolutely wonderful.
And I couldn't wait to find out what they did. And when I found out that all they did was keep me alive, I was very disappointed. Because you want to live for something bigger than that. And let me tell you, you can live for something bigger than that.
Because that's the point of this verse. Life is more than food and the body is more than clothing. And Christmas is a whole lot more than just simply purchasing gifts. And the point of Christmas was God wrapped in flesh.
And because he came to live with us, Emmanuel, God with us, we can be reconciled to God. And he was the one who was the creator of all of life. What an amazing, amazing thing. And I love this verse that I had a teacher that used to talk to us all the time about.
Christ in you, the hope of glory. And she kept saying that. And finally, it really clicked with me that regardless of what happens in this life, that we can have confidence about the next life, about heaven, because of Christ in you, the hope of glory. I'm hoping that this year that you make memories with your family and with those you love.
But I'm hoping that the memories that you make are clear, that you're clear about what you love about them and what is important about Christmas. And what's important about Christmas is that we have more hope in Christ than anything else in the whole white world. Because of Christ, we have hope for now and for eternity. And what I want to do today is to offer you some of my Christmas memories and even a cake that my dad made when I was a little girl that I really loved.
So if you will go to clsimmons.com backslash Christmas memories, you can access those memories and a copy of that cake. And I hope you do. And most of all, I hope that you have a blessed Christmas with those that you love. You've been listening to Heart of the Matter Radio with Cynthia L.
Simmons. Your comments and questions are always welcome. Contact us at cynthia at clsimmons.com. We'd love to hear from you, whether you're an author, young mom, a mother of teens, a homeschool mother, or an empty nester.
Join us next time as Cynthia once again sets a path to grow in wisdom and a closer walk with the Savior, here on Heart of the Matter Radio.