It's Not Just Christmastime

(Day 1 of 4) Happy Holidays: An Introduction — Theresa Ta

It’s December. This means I’ve been seeing a whole lot of “Merry Christmas” since mid-November. (If I want to be completely accurate though, I started noticing Christmas cheer in like, October.)

Along with the Christmas season comes a lot of… shall I say, holiday hate speech.

My overpriced cup of coffee says “Happy Holidays” instead of “Merry Christmas.” Christians are UNDER ATTACK! I can’t even say “Christmas” anymore or I get CANCELLED!

I’m not so sure that our Lord and Savior, Jesus the Christ, is too worried about the heavily commercialized and idolatrized version of his birthday celebration sharing calendar space with other holidays. And there are other ways to celebrate the gift of life throughout the year and during the traditional Christmas season (which, frankly, Christians stole from Pagans).

I love asking people about the most impactful lessons they've learned from faith or cultural traditions outside of their own. Oftentimes, it's a lesson that adds color and flavor to the way they experience God, completely transforming the way they walk through this world.

A wonderful thing about learning from faith traditions and cultural experiences outside of our own is that it can only add to the wholeness and total balance of our lives.

Learning new things does not take away from the old if you don’t want it to.

You can learn of different ingredients and seasonings and then add them to the meal of your life if you want to. Plain rice can be nice, but what about the full and well-flavored meal God created you to enjoy? You can discover different colors and decide to add bold, new strokes to your life’s painting if you want to. Or you can leave the canvas blank. But don’t you think the God in you longs to leap out onto the canvas and color it with the gifts of Creation?

This holiday season, step into what you might not have known before. You can begin here, in this devotional — reflecting each day on the colors of a different person’s own life painting.

Hopefully, you will discover a new-to-you color that can add a beautiful, bold stroke to your own masterpiece.

Theresa Ta (she/her) is Editor in Chief at Our Bible App. Born and raised in Philly, she graduated with a degree in English from St. Joseph’s University. Following a wild series of life developments that led her to gain a passion for social justice, faith-based action, and a love of language — she eventually found her way to Team OBA, where her work is fully informed by those passions.

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(Day 1 of 4) Happy Holidays: An Introduction — Theresa Ta

Start reading this 4-day devotional in the app. Find it on the Featured shelf.