I’m sure you have all heard the quote, “We all have the same 24 hours in a day.”

I didn’t even realize how controversial this quote was until I put it in the Google search engine. The top results in the search were saying this was a quote that made people feel guilty or that it failed to recognize the privilege different people had that enabled them to succeed in ways that others could never succeed as they did not have the same opportunities in their 24 hours.

However, when I think of this quote, I think of what my priorities should be especially when it comes to what I am doing for the Lord in my 24 hours I have each day. When it comes to how we should be living and what our priorities should be, we all have the same 24 hours.

God wants everyone of us to put Him first, no matter what our responsibilities are. That will look differently for every person. For me, I knew I wanted to get into God’s Word more. I do an inductive Bible study but I will do 4-5 days in one sitting, and besides going to church and teaching a Bible class for kids, I am not daily into God’s Word. I know I need to be in God’s Word daily, yet it seems like I run out of time.

But I have the same 24 hours as everyone else. I need to make sure that I find time in my 24 hours to get into God’s Word. So how do I do that? I have decided this year that I will listen to my Bible Gateway app when I go walking. I walk about 35-40 minutes a day at least 5 days a week. Even though I don’t have time in my 24 hour day often to study God’s Word, I can at least listen to it.

I believe that I can listen to the Bible at least once this year just by listening to it some days as I walk. I also want to memorize 12-15 verses that are on our church’s schedule for this year. I can record my saying those verses on my Voice Memo app and use those recordings to hear and memorize those verses also while I walk.

I do not have a lot of time — but I have the same 24 hours that everyone else has. That is how I am planning to use just a few of my hours each week to make sure that I make a priority to get into God’s Word. I have never done my Bible time this way, but it is one way that I can use my 24 hours wisely.

How are you using your 24 hours to put God first this year?

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One of many people’s Christmas traditions is singing Christmas carols.

Besides singing them in church services, there is the tradition of caroling, listening to the carols as one decorates or cooks or drives in the car, as well as singing them in schools and nursing homes.

In the little school that I teach in, we have read the history of just a couple of Christmas carols this past week. In our ladies’ Christmas party, we heard the backstory of some of the carols and sang a few of the carols. For a couple of Sunday nights, our church has gone to sing a few carols at the homes of our shut-in members.

There have been a few observations I have made as we sing these wonderful songs:

• Some of the carols are theologically rich in their text.
• Singing the carols brought joy to the ones singing as well as to the listeners.
• Many of them were filled with praise to our God.

Of course we know that Christmas is not about the cookies and the presents but instead about Jesus being born as a baby so that He could save us from our sins.

But if you are like me, Christmas can be very stressful. There is so much to do for the season that it can be hard to enjoy it. For many people, Christmas can be sad. They miss loved ones who are no longer here. Others find Christmas hard as they do not have the finances to do what they would like to do.

So how do we keep our thoughts on what Christmas is truly about? We sing the Christmas carols and meditate on the true meaning of Christmas through the words of the songs. Look at the following words in some of the carols:

Then let us all with one accord
Sing praises to our heavenly Lord;
That hath made heaven and earth of naught,
And with his blood mankind hath bought.

The First Noel

Here we are reminded that God made everything out of nothing and has paid for our salvation with His blood. We can all praise God for that!

Hail! the heav’n born Prince of peace!
Hail! the Son of Righteousness!
Light and life to all he brings,
Risen with healing in his wings
Mild he lays his glory by,
Born that man no more may die:
Born to raise the sons of earth,
Born to give them second birth.
Hark! the herald angels sing,
“Glory to the newborn King!”

Hark the Herald Angels Sing

What great words are in this song! He is the Prince of Peace! He is the only perfect, righteous, without sin Son of God. Everyone who will accept His salvation will receive His eternal life and light. He can heal our broken hearts. Yet He chose to come down and live as a man, to give up His glory so that He could die for us. He did that so we would not have to have eternal death or separation from Him in hell. He was born so that we could experience our second birth of salvation. Just like the angels, we should give Him glory!

Yea, Lord, we greet Thee,
Born this happy morning;
Jesus, to Thee be the glory giv’n;
Word of the Father,
Now in the flesh appearing,

O come, let us adore Him,
O come, let us adore Him,
O come, let us adore Him,
Christ the Lord.

O Come All Ye Faithful

I love “O Come All Ye Faithful! It’s such a happy song to sing with great harmony parts. When we sing it, we reflect on Jesus’ birth as a baby; yet we also give praise and glory to the Son of God who took on flesh for our sake. Our natural response is to adore Him!

Truly He taught us to love one another
His law is love and His gospel is peace
Chains shall He break for the slave is our brother
And in His name all oppression shall cease
Sweet hymns of joy in grateful chorus raise we,
Let all within us praise His holy name

O Holy Night

When we consider how He broke our chains of slavery to sin; how one day He will come back, make a new heaven and earth, and rule in holiness; how He teaches us to love others, then we can lift our songs of praise and gratefulness to His holy name.

This Christmas, sing these wonderful carols and reflect on all God has done for you! Singing and meditating on the truths of some of the lyrics will lead to adoring our great Savior and praising Him for His goodness to us.

I will take the next couple of Thursdays off to celebrate Christmas with my family. Have a great Christmas celebration!

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This Christmas is feeling a little sad. We canceled our flights to go be with family for family — something my kids always look forward to doing. I am ordering gifts to be shipped, but it’s just not the same.

Then our church had it’s first COVID scare — it was mild, but it was there. One person was at an activity on one day; and the next day, it was confirmed that they were positive. Praise the Lord, there were only about 20 people at the activity, many were not close to that person, and we found out quickly so that we could take appropriate measures.

Since I was one of the people at the activity, we had to restructure life which meant a little more work on my part, but we are thankful that everyone is healthy so far. But this whole mask stuff and avoiding people adds a strain that is not normally there.

Then it seems like there have been so many heart attacks and cancer diagnoses in the past few months. In our church of 120 people, we have had a handful of open heart surgeries and stents put in people’s hearts. I have seen friends who parents have been diagnosed terminal cancer. One just passed away yesterday at 64 years of age. We have a 10 year old boy in our church going through aggressive chemo. It can be a sad world.

It just doesn’t stop! With all the cares of life and then the turbulence in the world around us, it can get overwhelming. What are we to do?

Most of us know what we are to do — it’s just doing it.

We have to life out eyes to the Lord — that is where our help comes from.

We are to offer praise to Him for all that He has done for us. When we remember His goodness to us, then we keep our minds fixed on what is good and right and truthful.

And when we are worried, we are to turn our cares over to Him for He cares for us.

Maybe of all of the Christmases I have celebrated in the past few years, this one will be more precious than the others. With all the sadness and strain around me, I have to take my eyes off of missed celebrations and traditions and put my eyes on the Savior, the whole reason for Christmas!

Since we can’t do many of our traditions, kids (and maybe adults) are tempted to say, “It doesn’t feel like Christmas.” Or “This Christmas isn’t fun!” But then as an adult, I say to myself, “That’s not why we celebrate Christmas.” Christmas isn’t about fun or presents or celebrations. It’s about Jesus being born so that He could save us from our sins.

When I keep my eyes on that fact, then it’s easy to be joyful on Christmas. Thanks be to God for His unspeakable gift!

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