It's that time of the year again: the most wonderful time of the year. The weather is getting colder, the anticipation for the holidays is high, and we randomly decide to be nice to each other.

I mean isn't that how it is? For 10 months out of the year, we can't be bothered to be kind to one another, but once it hits Thanksgiving and Christmas time we decide that we should probably be nice. Perhaps it's the weather or just the warm fuzzies of being around family, but I think it's deeper than that; I think it has everything to do with the way our hearts were created. Yes, I think our sudden attitude change is the surest sign that our hearts are indeed designed for glorifying Christ; the surest sign that no one, not even in the world we are living in, is too far gone for the love that the Father has to offer.

It's the fact that we have a whole holiday centered around being thankful. It's in every Christmas song and every Christmas movie: the desire to "be loved" and to "feel the joy and peace that Christmas brings all year long." Those are core desires in the hearts of humans that were intentionally placed there and thus not inherently bad but albeit misplaced. It's not the holiday itself that brings those things, but the subject of the holiday that does. Without going all typical, cliche, "Jesus is the reason for the season," on you, He is the entire reason we even have Christmas. Let's just call the "Christmas spirit" what it actually is shall we? That's the Spirit of the Lord you feel. I'd venture to say that you feel those warm fuzzy "Christmas emotions," because when Christ came to earth he brought a new hope for those things and continues to do so even today. Because at His very core He IS love, He IS joy, and He IS peace. And at this time when we recognize and focus on His birth, those elements of His character are intentionally apparent.

You and I desire that which only God can truly give us. In John 15, Jesus says, "I am the true vine..." This implies that there are other vines that we can attach ourselves to, but the Lord is the true vine; He is the one that will sustain and will bring forth eternal fruit. So we can immerse ourselves in the temporary that the holiday brings, but ultimately it's going to be January and we will be left wondering where all the love, joy, and peace have gone. That's why Jesus continues by urging His disciples to continue to abide in Him so that their joy will overflow (John 15:11).

As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in his love. These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full. - John 15:9-11 (ESV)

To abide means to live in. The word "abide" is a close relative of the word "abode" meaning a place where a person lives' it's where everything flows from and where we always go back to. Let Christ be the place you always go back to and where everything in your life flows from. That throughout the year, not just this season, we recognize and give God the credit in our lives and allow Him to then provide us with His true joy.

Let Christ be the true vine for you this holiday season; don't let your love, joy, and peace be contingent upon the trivial things that we can focus on in this season. Let it not just be a season of temporary joy, love, and peace but a springboard for the rest of your year. This season should be a reminder of God's goodness and a renewal of hope in remembering that our Savior was sent into the world to ultimately act as the atoning sacrifice for our sins so that we may live in freedom. Take that revelation and let it move you into a place of abiding in Him and receiving true love, joy, and peace all year long.