Mark 7:9 And he said unto them, Full well ye reject the commandment of God, that ye may keep your own tradition.

Many traditions have nothing to do with God, church or rituals associated with sanctification. That does not mean they are wrong or unfruitful. As long as our traditions do not take God’s place in our hearts, then we should honor mother and father in keeping their traditions.

At this time of year I suffer from missing one of those family traditions. The older I get the more of my family has passed on out of memory. It is not that I have forgotten them but their memories and the sharing of times together are gone from me.

The mind needs to be refreshed with tales of times when we gathered together and shared life. Picnics and outings, Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners were a shared experiences and the volume of participants has dwindled down to just a few.

“I can remember when….” That is missing in my seasonal experience now. Memories are shorter and with new acquaintances, some of whom I have known less that ten years. They cannot refresh the memory of a time long past and those times are fading from my memory and that makes me sad.

What lingers longer in my memories are traumatic events in which I am a key player because I was the bad actor. No one is here to remind me of those famous mistakes. Those involved don’t even remember. Why are they still active memories?

John 10:10 The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy:

Satan plays the spoiler. This defeated foe has nothing better to do than attack my faith. That is fine because I know one thing about enemies. They don’t bother you if you are not a threat. If you are under attack, then you are a threat to Satan. That means you are on the side of right.

2 Peter 3:1c I stir up your pure minds by way of remembrance:

Peter is talking about remembering the Word here and a pure mind is required to remember pure things.

Each Christmas season my memories are stirred about a past that wasn’t so pure and the older I get my memories seem to be less clear.

In my sugar plum dreams I am alone. I have no memory of my siblings at all. I honestly do not remember anything about their Christmas, what they looked like, what they got for Christmas, or any joy that might have been theirs to celebrate.

That makes me feel selfish. I was a child and as a child I probably only cared about myself. We were poor so we didn’t have much of a tradition of sharing or at least I don’t remember there being those examples in my life.

Generosity of heart needs to be exampled to children. It is not natural. If you grew up in poverty generosity of heart might be very difficult to recognize. It might show up by doing rather than giving. The nuances of generosity of the heart are easily lost on a child if they are not included in efforts of doing.

Growing up in Maine one of the opportunities made available to us was in shoveling snow. Our neighbor was an old widow woman who could not shovel her drive or walk herself. It was done for her by the generosity of the heart. That was a teachable moment for me that did not happen but should have.

There are many needful moments in the lives of those who are less fortunate than ourselves. Food, money, or physical labor done without generosity of the heart leave Jesus out of the picture.

1 Corinthians 16:14 (ESV) Let all that you do be done in love.

The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publications