A common knowledge truth is that “Any thing that is free is worth what you pay for it.” I can’t even number the times I’ve tried to go the easy way and found that it wasn’t easy at all, often more costly to get far less or nothing I was hoping to get. I’m not alone. Scammers know it is human nature to want something without effort or a bargain that costs little and gains much. They bait their hooks with easy wins, massive increases to finances, instant success in every venue, health fixes and anything else your heart desires without the pressure of working for it. The easy way always costs more and gains less. Scammers bilk the American public of billions every year. We know. We just don’t do.

We even resist being reminded or pushed in the right direction. It is almost like we feel, “Don’t bother me,” when we are in the take-the-easy road mode. One of the issues of faith is that God “bothers” us. He wants to interrupt our bad behaviors and bad attitudes to push us in the right direction toward discipline, responsibility, and accountability. It is embarrassing when I find myself resisting doing the best when I know it is right because I prefer easy, which never is. He has a better plan. My plan is to try to spend more time in agreement with His plan because His outcomes are always better and worth having. His plan is always worth the effort because His grace provides more than we deserve. His hard work is really the “easy” way out.

I had a friend who created cheat sheets for difficult school tests. He could include a chapter or more of science information on a three by five card. He had to use every space on the card, even writing around the edges. He knew the information by the time he figured out how to visually put the information on the card and studied it on the way to school. He never used the cheat sheet on the test because it was his study technique to master the information. He didn’t need to cheat. Others did cheat, got caught, lost their credit and credibility. Those who didn’t get caught were caught short in other ways because they never learned the information and built a habit that would fail them in life.

I recently met a young woman who was hooked up to an IV, which happens every week for her. She indicated she had considered another round of chemo, but the cancer was in her lungs and liver and would probably be a waste of effort. Her primary goal was to live to her children’s next birthdays, one was nine and the other six. The woman could not have been older than early thirties and weighed under one hundred pounds. She was a most thoughtful and cheerful person despite her situation and put all at ease around her as she was not preoccupied with her life issues. She was interested in the lives and well-being of others.

I was awed by her courage and faith. She knew the Lord could heal her at any moment and prayed for Him to do so, but she accepted whatever God had in store for her without having to understand. She reminded me of the corpsmen on the Pacific islands during WWII. The medics ran or crawled to the wounded, exposed themselves in open sight of the enemy, without fighting back, to help and rescue a downed soldier. They were battlefield heroes to the other soldiers who would then run to medic’s aide when they were wounded helping another. People who willingly lay down their lives for others provide a most powerful example of love. This young woman put her life aside to care for others despite her imminent death.

I met her after her courage had achieved heroic proportions, but I can’t imagine that she started there. I believe she started with little sacrifices, building a lifestyle of caring for others, until she became the fortress of faith I met. I met the end result of many smaller miracles and choices that took place over time. I wonder how many falls and get-ups were required while she became strong and consistent in her courage. How many disappointments had to be overcome with encouragement before she spoke encouragement as a native language? If patience comes through adversity then her patience was proof of the adversities she has faced.

I believe the young woman earned my respect in at least two ways. First, the size of the obstacle she faced was monumental. It was far larger than I could imagine facing, especially with the grace and strength she displayed. Secondly, The long hard work it must have taken to build the consistency and reliability she expressed. She is a many layered example of the work and look of love, hard fought and hard won, built into a life by caring for others. She was an amazing example of what loving can look like when hard work and determination operate the process of loving over time.

History teaches valuable lessons. All of us wager our lives on the things we believe. Each person spends their lives like their paychecks on their beliefs and desires Some values are greater than others. I began to compare some values and behaviors of Germany and Japan based on Hitler and Hideki to the values and behaviors of England and America, based on Churchill and Roosevelt.

Germany and Japan were two countries who believed in their superiority over all others, which excused them from compassion for those they considered inferior. They had a creed of hatred, which breeds bondage and injustice. Hitler denied supplies to his own military by spending so much money and resources on destroying the Jews and others he blamed and hated in his bigotry. The soldiers who were aligned closest to Hitler and Hideki’s philosophies of hatred performed the most atrocities and the worst cruelties on and off the battlefield. They created a legacy of unbridled brutality. Russians who worked with the allies had a similar outlook of cruelty. They did to others as had been done to them, with enthusiasm.

England and America were the leading forces among the allies. Their outlook and priorities were for freedom and justice, even though some of their individual troops did acts of brutality. The allied troops who committed atrocities did so because they bought into the hatred of war instead of standing in the values of their nations. The allies had to stop the horrors of cruelties committed by the axis powers over all they conquered and would conquer or the whole world would be consumed. Freedom and justice were worthy values.

WWII is a big and loud picture that shows us what we fight every day in our individual lives. Will we buy into the cruelty, selfishness, and brutality of life, or will we serve higher values that stand in the face of our own suffering caused by doing the right thing for the right reason. Will we be like the wrong we experience, or will we be different. Every day in every way, we have to make that choice in large or small ways. Usually all the small choices set the pattern for how we act with the big choices. We have to choose what is worth sacrificing our lives to do and to be. The world around us will tell us what we feel and who we are, or we can choose our values and tell the world who we are. Jesus fought this battle on the physical and spiritual stages of life to show us what true values are and what they are worth. The choices we make prove the ways we have chosen to wager and spend our lives. It is important to review individual choices and consider the legacy we create.

Traveling through the crowd

People think that truth is so easy. You see it and do it. We forget that we have to push through the crowd to get to it. We have to fight all the limitations we have in life and understanding. We have to push through all the distractions and misleading information. We have to wage a war to get through to the truth, even our embarrassment of having ignored the truth for so long.

The movies dramatize many stories of the underdog who has to reveal the truth to those in power who deny it to protect themselves. We see it in the newspapers about the politicians who do this. We have even created a name for the activity called “putting a spin on it” or simply “a spin,” indicating that the truth is being misused for someone’s convenience. The dramatizations often show us the extremes a truth seeker has to face within him/herself and the circumstances to face and reveal the truth.

The stories reveal the real war between truth and lies. The “spinner” has chosen him/herself as the higher value to be served. Crooked politicians and business persons serve their own ends, wealth, power, prestige, and ego. They do not care or have overcome their concern for how much others suffer while they deny or cover truth for their personal convenience or benefit. Sometimes consumers have to fight their way through a salesperson who inaccurately or misleads in the representation of their products. Scammers absolutely deny the truth to gain access to accounts and money by theft. The “spinner’s” god is themselves and their personal desires to the detriment of others.

The truth seeker has a value beyond him/herself. They are often harmed or even destroyed in this pursuit, having to deny their own suffering to reveal the higher value. Whistleblowers prove the suffering caused by preferring the truth and the war caused by revealing the truth. The spinner is out for himself. The truth seeker can be harmed pursuing something more important than himself. It is a clear war of values.

Every day each of us is put at the point of choice to serve ourselves or to serve a higher value. We have models of both for our lives. We don’t honestly acknowledge how powerful the pull of selfishness is on our lives. We witness the wealthy, prominent, educated, and highly gifted and all others fall under its spell. The news, movies, and media are full of their stories, even to the point where they harass and attack those who have not fallen like themselves. It is extremely difficult and potentially painful to choose the greater over the lesser. You can see the price paid by Jesus and those who choose to be like them, but it is the best choice. Society will not survive when those who fight for the higher values are gone.

Going to a hospital was like going to the mechanics shop. They examined the human machine for all the working, worn, and parts needing repair. They had labels for parts with which I was only vaguely familiar and parts of parts of which I was completely unfamiliar. They used words about my human machinery that denoted all kinds of inferences and understanding that were completely beyond me, using words as unfamiliar to me as the rarest dialect on earth.

The examinations proved that I had the flu and an infection, both treatable. They also verified my age, all wear and tear, and all the possibilities that needed further follow up, just for safety’s sake. I’m now doing all the follow ups realizing that I’ve become a sack of parts. I once went to a doctor with symptoms and received a diagnosis and treatment. Now I go to have one organ checked at a time with as many different doctors. I’m meeting lots of new people and paying for the opportunity. I’m beginning to wonder if they have a specialist in cracked fingernails.

The point seems to be about awareness. The body says that earth and its realities are all that exist. The soul has quite a different explanation. The soul says that the physical world is the tip of the iceberg and shows insight into the unseen world that is, as or more, real than the visible one around us. It takes time, effort, and reflection to see the invisible reality through the images cast by the physical experience. The visible world is living on a timeline that has a beginning and an end. There is a limit to how long the world can survive the destruction of our misuse, just like humans wear out after a period of time. None of us know the length of days assigned to anything or anyone. Decay and death may be inevitable, but length of survival during the process is anyone’s guess.

The many exams show me that there are many little and large unknowns at work in the system of my body that have not reached the crisis point that brings them to the surface. I believe that is a parallel to the inner workings of the soul. There is much that is unseen until you go looking for it to uncover the real workings which can and should be discovered, the behind the scenes awarenesses. I believe prayer and reflection is the way for the eternal doctor (Jesus) to see and reveal the hidden workings, some to be dealt with and others to be celebrated. Jesus gave us a model of how to operate with an invisible, eternal relationship. He became physical to be the communication example and life conduit.

The undefinable touches of heart that shape closeness are always around us and often influence us more than the moment of experience. We bond through brief interactions that transfer deep caring or profound values. They create the context and establish the belonging that are the foundation, brick, and mortar of relationships. I watched and saw that this Christmas.

The family had gathered for the day. The youngest ones traveled in a continuous whirlwind from parent to uncle to aunt to grandparent in no determined path, making sure to give and receive attention from all. Shared moments like help opening a present, sharing a present, a momentary hug, or a loving and enthusiastic response were short but lively and communicated a wealth of affection that was far beyond the moment spent. They were experiencing bonding that was growing over time and establishing deep links to their adult family. The same was happening among the adults, a hug here or there, words of gratitude and/or encouragement, and so much more in the shared connections.

I began to realize how much those little moments mean. Interactions like them built a relationship with my parents that transcended the sometimes troublesome times. Friendships that have lasted for decades were built on life bricks like those because establish life giving qualities. The more I watched the more I saw in my past, and all around me. Small moments, powerful moments, nuggets of gold that are treasures beyond counting. They are treasures that will outlast the presents and the time within which they occur. I can see them in the precious relationships that feed me hope every day and have all my life long, especially in relationships which have had to overcome great adversities to survive and keep going.

The topping of the insight is that the relationship with God is built through small moments intermingled through all the busy race of life that rarely slows to appreciate anything for more than a breath. They are often events that pass without fanfare, a touch of insight, a revelation that lingers, an awareness of closeness, and understanding of caring, a confidence that defies explanation. They are bonding touches that cause us to know that we are loved in good and bad and through it all. They are moments that we grasp why Jesus came to live among us to build a relationship with us. It is living hope, divine times in the midst of rushed lives.

There was a man in about 300 AD who was a bishop in the Catholic Church. He had a reputation for generosity to a point that anyone receiving an anonymous gift assumed it was from him. His life was so rich in faith and service that eventually the Catholic Church labeled him Saint Nicholas. As the process goes, he was considered the saint of children and fishermen because miracles associated with him were also associated with them.

The Protestant reformation rejected the Catholic saints and so kicked St. Nicholas out of the church. He was so popular that communities kept him, changing his label to connect him with winter and giving. He became the secular representation of Christmas celebration. His image and traditions were connected to many different cultures and countries. His fame was widespread.

The Germans and Dutch brought the richest traditions of St. Nicholas to America. Thomas Nast, the political cartoonist who gave us the donkey and elephant for our political parties, started drawing Santa (a name derived from the Dutch Sinterklaas) in stars and stripes. The Germans gave us the name Kris Kringle. Nast continued to draw Santa until about 1883. Christmas was very secular at this time with little Christmas celebration in the churches. Work tended to be slack during this time of the year, and celebrations tended to be wild, drunken, and sometimes riotous, definitely not family friendly.

Leaders wanted to tame Christmas. A book was written called The Children’s Friend which taught naughty and nice traditions. “‘Twas the Night Before Christmas” was published in 1823, going international in a year. Work to tame Christmas was everywhere with efforts to make it family friendly with all the images we have now. The work was so successful that churches took notice. Santa helped bring the celebration of Christmas and giving back into the church after centuries of having been kicked out. A long route to return to where he started, giving as an example of Christ in the church.

The story of Santa is complicated because humans are complicated. However there are some consistent threads that survived all the complications. The qualities of God are not only tied to the church, but to all of life. God cannot be limited or confined. Christians do not own God, nor does anyone. Anyone who has received the love of someone who had to sacrifice to give it has had an opportunity to see and meet Jesus.

The humor in humanity is our inconsistency. Any belief in or relationship with God is miraculous. Any belief in any part of the Bible is miraculous. However, People pick and choose what is believable. It might be easier to believe that Jesus fed over 5,000 with 5 loaves and 2 fishes and balk at Jonah being swallowed by a huge fish for 3 days. It might be easy to believe God answered a prayer while finding it impossible to believe something equally miraculous and mysterious. We often limit God to what we can or are willing to believe and understand instead of recognizing that He is bigger than we can understand or imagine. He is a big God, one that creates the universe and populates earth with people and all life.

All Christian churches believe in the gifts of the Spirit. I don’t know of any Christian church that will not pray for healing or revelation or help or some kind of interaction with God. All of those things are manifestations of God in our lives, miracles. They are gifts of the Spirit.

The problem seems to revolve around two things. 1. You cannot take the human out of the Christian. Humans get carried away or preoccupied or manifest themselves along with the gift God gives. 2. Tongues. They don’t have a problem praying for healing. But they have a great deal of trouble with the gift of tongues. Tongues seems to be the enemy of anybody who has a hard time with miraculous things that don’t make easy sense and use that to excuse not believing in the gifts of the Spirit. They seem to label all Pentecostal (churches which focus on the gifts of the Spirit, including tongues) experience by tongues.

How do you create a healthy environment for the Lord to do unusual things with usual people and still maintain some kind of order? It seems so complex because what seems good for one is way too much for another. People are frightened by those things beyond their control. We need order and discipline to survive and need to make room for God who is beyond our control. It is one of those mysteries that require faith. Faith is acceptance and trust beyond control. Faith says God loves us when we are unlovable and trustworthy when He operates beyond our boundaries and understanding.

Humans live in the uncomfortable world of being both physical and spiritual, able to control some areas and other areas beyond control. We, as individuals, fight the same battle as churches, making room for God while living a disciplined life. We have to make room for all we don’t understand while going forward with what we do understand. It is a conundrum. I can only suggest that prayer and Bible study helps.

I know of many people, myself one of them once, who feel the Lord isn’t real because they haven’t heard his voice. A Russian cosmonaut went to space and proclaimed that he didn’t see God. It is a sticking point more of perspective than of reality. To those who say, “If He’d just show up so I could see Him and touch Him,” He did, and it didn’t help people whose priorities contrasted with what they saw and experienced — a common problem. We see it every day where contrasting beliefs determine what people see and how they interpret their experiences.

We are surrounded by voices, even in the very air we breathe. Influences are alive all around us. The voice of selfishness is often louder during the Christmas season with all the “I wants” and “spend, spend, spend.” Expectations for family events and unity are experienced by some as depressing and unattainable and justification for others to try one more time and for others to celebrate ongoing traditions. It is a time of year that some people give and serve that will not do so at any other time of year. The extreme contrasts point to what we see, believe, and do is dependent more on where we are as individuals and our personal priorities. All the voices are out there, but people hear in accordance with their personal focus.

I spent a lot of years personally disenchanted with Christmas to a point I wouldn’t talk about it to anyone because of my negativity. I was shown, unequivocally, that I blamed my attitude on Christmas when the real problem was me. I was freed from my attitude cage once I realized I had to power to make Christmas anything I wanted it to be. I am no longer the victim of the season. I can choose.

Christmas is a reminder of good things that have been given to us by God. The most important gift is Jesus who is the embodiment of Godly virtues. Godly virtues are everywhere, often where you least expect them. Love, compassion, truth, justice, honor and the like are in the air around us swirling with the voices that contradict them. The highest values are even spoken through the mouths of those who say they viciously oppose God. Even atheists have a clear image of good and bad. They just don’t agree on the source of these great values. God’s voice is everywhere and heard by everyone, but not everyone chooses to recognize His voice as the source of the words. That’s one of His greatest gifts, the right to choose.