Grinchiness Doesn't Have to be Terminal!

The Grinch WAS a horrible character!  He hated Christmas, but his worst, most terrible problem was his heart! Dr. Seuss says it was at least tthree sizes too small!

That's why he plotted and planned to get rid of the Whos' joy! That's why he sneaked into all the houses in Whoville and stole every present, every bow, every bit of Christmas food, every stocking hung by the chimney with care, every Christmas tree. He didn't get Christmas because his heart was just too small!


The heart of Christmas is Jesus. To really understand Christmas we have to embrace Jesus. It's a heart matter! Those with small hearts don't get Christmas either! 

Grinch is only a character in a book, but his tribe is alive and as well as a Grinch tribe can be!  All those who also hate Christmas want to do exactly the same as Grinch did!  They can't even stand for us to say Merry Christmas. And, the reason is exactly the same: their hearts are also too small!  Those who belong to the tribe of Grinch also try to steal Christmas. 

I think that the indomitable spirit of the Whos in Whoville came from knowing that Christmas is all about God coming to earth to call His people to be in His forever family!

Now, whether there are Whos or Whoville or even a Grinch (and they are all fiction found only in the pages of a children's book), there is something profound in this amazing story.  The Whos in Whooville knew (and so do we) that Christmas is not about stuff! Christmas is all about a Person – Jesus - Who put on skin like us and moved into our world (John 1:8).  Actually it was a colossal step down for Him as He is the King from another world, from outside time and space. He is the Creator. But, He was willing to take on our skin and live like we do so He could make a way for us to move into His world forever!

When people around us are Grinchy, they do their people-watching too. What do they see? What they need to see is Jesus? What does that mean? It means our doing what Jesus did when He lived on earth for a while: He ate with IRS types, played with children, made food for thousands of poor people, hung out with hookers, and touched lepers (and others) making them whole again.  Jesus made it look easy, but it’s most certainly NOT!  It’s hard to love the poor, the lame, and the blind and social outcasts and more!  The watching world is looking to see what we do. They don’t give a hoot what we say unless we do it too!

Grinchiness doesn't have to be a terminal condition. It wasn't for Grinch, and it doesn't have to be for his tribe.  Grinch's heart grew two sizes the day he discovered the Whos' secret - that Grinchiness doesn't have to be terminal but it is very serious.  The anti-venom for Grinchiness is Jesus who shines through you and me!  So, go find some IRS types, children, poor people, hookers and lepers to start hanging out with them. It will be hard! It will make you weary - guaranteed!  It will be costly and inconvenient!  It will also make your heart grow three sizes at least!

Jesus talked about a feast and party - not just at Christmas:  When you give a [party], do not invite your friends, your brothers or relatives, or your rich neighbors; if you do, they may invite you back and so you will be repaid. But when you give a [party], invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed!  Your heart will grow, and you will push back the darkness of Grinchiness in the name of Jesus!

Green Eggs, Ham, and Care-giving!

Green eggs and ham? I think there's a book with that name, but this isn't a book review. This is about the breakfast menu. Which has more commitment to the breakfast menu - the chicken or the pig? It's a no-brainer! The chicken is involved; the pig is committed!
But, this isn't about breakfast. It's about care-giving!


In my family my four sibs (if you count blood or nine if you, like my mother, count love), we all care for my mother. She needs lots of care. She is 92 feeble. She has Alzheimer's with its many complicating issues. She lost her 70+ year companion (my dad who was her rock) a year ago today. But, like the breakfast menu, some of us are pigs; others are chickens.
One sister and her husband have Mother in their home. They give her 24/7 love and care, and their responsibilities are not easy! They are pigs! They are totally committed!
My brother and his wife are the stand-in-the-gap emergency response team taking Mother to their home for breaks and other emergencies! They are little pigs, but don't tell them I said so! They like horses more than pigs!
The rest of us - sisters all - are the chickens! We are involved. We go when we can. We pray many times each day and often in the night. We send flowers and cards. We call and have rambling, random conversations with Mother.
Recently I've been thinking about this "care-giving breakfast menu" we have going. I think it's a common phenomenon in giving care. Some are chickens. Some are pigs. Both are needed. The chickens are involved. The pigs are committed!

What Size is YOUR Heart?

I love Dr. Seuss' memorable Grinch! He lives high above Whoville in a cave with his stingy little heart and is most miserable! I don't love his miserable self! I love that he learned his heart was two sizes too small!

 

 

It's Christmas and Grinch tries his dead level best to destroy every last vestige of joy in Whoville by stealing Christmas. His efforts totally fail because the Whos in Whoville have hearts bigger than the stuff!

 



 

 



SO, what size is your heart? Just sayin' !!!

Post Birth Abortion??? NOT!!!!

Timing is everything! Sometimes it's breath-taking about the timing thing! Our women's Bible study sponsored by A Restoration Church is studying various ethical issues in light of God's truth. The last two weeks we've dealt with abortion. We have also tackled stem cell research, autism, self-image, violence and more.
Yesterday was Dr. Seuss' 108th birthday.
What in the world do abortion and Dr. Seuss have in common?
In its February 28, 2012 issue the Journal of Medical Ethics published and featured an article entitled "After-Birth Abortion: Why Should the Baby Live?" In any other world after birth and abortion would never remotely have anything to do with each other! This article is all about the birth of children who have previously "unexpected" disabilities and what to do about them. The article - in a medical ethics journal no less - suggests post-birth abortion is the option for parents. How can after-birth murder be the same label as pre-birth murder (abortion)? Part of the answer in the article is that newborn babies as well as in-utero babies neither one are real humans.
I looked but I could find NOTHING in God's Word of truth that remotely suports such an egregious travesty! But apart from that - it would seem to me that reason alone would cry "foul" on this one!
AND what does THAT have to do with Dr. Seuss? Well, among many other wise, pithy sayings, he wrote “A person's a person, no matter how small.”!
That's NOT Scripture but it is the truth and we better wrap our minds around it before as a nation we lose our ethical and moral souls forever!
What a opportunity to be salt in such a rotten world and light that pushes back darkness!

Small Heart?

Remember the Grinch? He's the mean green creation of Dr. Seuss whose heart is several sizes too small. He tries to steal Christmas from all the Whos down in Whoville and is totally bummed when he discovers that just taking their stuff - Christmas presents and decorations and food for the Christmas feast - didn't take away Christmas at all! He stands in the snow and cold high on his mountain on Christmas morning just waiting for the BOO-HOOs to start. And, hark! What does he fear? Not sobbing but singing! The Whos are all gathered in the center of town in a huge circle all holding hands singing Christmas songs of joy!
That's when Grinch begins to discover that the problem all along has been inside his own heart - too small! The Grinch returns all the "loot" he stole and joins in the Whos' Christmas celebration and feast. Dr. Seuss concludes that the Grinch's small heart grew two sizes that day!
Wanna keep a small heart? Never be the first one to humble yourself and apologize!
(Scotty Smith)
Well, what goes for Grinchs also goes for you and me!

Why the Grinch Tried to Steal Christmas!

It was a heart problem - plain and simple! Mean, green Mr. Grinch hated the Whos, their singing, their sparkly trees, their Christmas feast, their fun and what he hated, hated the most was their joy! Quite mistakenly Mr. Grinch thought the Whos joy in Whoville came from the trappings of Christmas. So he hatched a diabolical plan to steal Christmas from Whoville and put to death forever all the joy in Whoville.
He rides into Whoville in the dark of night and absconds with every present, decoration and morsel of the Christmas feast he can choke down his mean, green throat or carry away in his buldging bag. Then he stands high above Whoville just watching and waiting for the cries of "BOO-HOO"!
"He stared down at Whoville! The Grinch popped his eyes! ... What he saw was a shocking surprise! Every Who down in Whoville, the tall and the small, was singing! Without any presents at all! HE HADN'T STOPPED CHRISTMAS FROM COMING! iT CAME! Somehow or other, it came just the same!"
Mr. Grinch just didn't get the heart part! Mr. Grinch had an epiphany of sorts high on his icy mountain: "How could it be? ... Maybe Christmas doesn't come from a store. Maybe Christmas ... perhaps ... means a little bit more."
Mr. Grinch finally started to understand. Without radical surgery on every Who in Whoville he couldn't steal Christmas as Christmas comes from the heart.
It started long before the world began in the heart of God. It was thousands of years before God dropped the greatest Present of all into our world! God had been watching and waiting for just the right time and then "Kazaam!" Jesus came and Christmas was and IS in the heart of every man, woman, boy or girl who understands that Christmas comes from within the heart no matter whether there is a tree, a gift or a treat when Jesus lives in that heart! That's why Whos in Whoville can sing when it doesn't seem possible - because the joy is heart deep! AND the Whos down in Whoville say, "The Grinch's small heart grew three sizes that day!" (with apologies and thanks to Dr. Seuss!)

What's Up with the Grinch?

Every Who down in Who-ville liked Christmas a lot ...
But the Grinch, who lived just North of Who-ville did NOT!
The Grinch hated Christmas! The whole Christmas season!
Now, plese don't ask why. No one quite knows the reason.
It could be that his head wasn't screwed on quite right.
It could be, perhaps, that his shoes were too tight.
But I think that the most likely reason of all
May have been that his heart was two sizes too small! --Dr. Seuss

Over 50 years ago Dr. Seuss created his wonderful villain the Grinch - that is, if villains can ever be wonderful! In fact the cultural connection with the Grinch is described as: "The term Grinchy shall apply when Christmas spirit is in short supply." (quote from the Book of Who also by Dr. Seuss)

The Grinch appears in Seuss' children's book "How the Grinch Stole Christmas!" The Grinch is an evil, self-absorbed, greedy thief of joy in any season! The Grinch is willing to go to ANY lengths to derail joy for the entire generic town of Whoville.

The Grinch is ugly green with uglier yellow eyes. He lives in an isolated cave on a rocky slope high above Whoville. He despises Christmas simply because his heart is "two sizes too small" and, I might add, rotten to the core! Grinch hatches a plan to steal Christmas and all its trappings from the Whos in Whoville. He dons a skinny Santa suit as disguise.

Christmas 2011 will soon be here. If the stores are to be believed Christmas came sometime around September 25th this season! Dr. Seuss wrote clever stories to entertain children. Like C.S. Lewis and others, Seuss' stories have grown-up lessons hidden beneath the story for children. The Grinch has some lessons for us:

• It's Christmas! There is a REAL Grinch who tries to steal Christmas - Satan. AND his heart is MORE than 2 sizes too small! It's totally twisted much worse than the Grinch's! The Bible describes the Satan Grinch as one who prowls around looking for ways to destroy and people to fatally attack much like the Grinch plotting against Christmas and the Whos of Whoville.


• Our hearts are twisted by sin and brokenness! NOTHING works the way God intended when He set the stars in place and created man to live in a perfect place!

Because of sin and brokenness there is desperate need for Christmas and for the Christmas Savior! God looks down from His heaven (high above the Grinch's cave and the village of Whoville) and sees a world irretrievably broken. And the only hope for this kind of brokenness is the Christmas Savior! O, come let us adore Him! (from O Come All Ye Faithful carol)

How or Wow??? !!!

I'm thinking about this new year 2008. I'm thinking that it's time for new starts, new attitudes, new ways of connecting with God and others. I'm thinking that there needs to be more focus on the "wow" than on the "how" of living and loving both God and others.

I'm thinking my heart needs the "wow" much more than the "how"!


It may be a personality thing! It may be how your or my brain is wired to some extent. But I'm wondering if we stay living in the "how" because the "wow" is so much scarier. The "how" can be an escape from risk. To live in the "how" of life just requires the facts. It means we can live by rules and plans, set goals (Nothing wrong with that!) and not deal with what drives the "how" living we are more comfortable with.


Facts and the "how" are good and necessary. Blowing off the "how" and living totally in the "wow" brought the bohemic lifestyles of the 1970's. Blowing off the "how" and living totally in the "wow" brings the hedonism of this new 21st century. Walking across the news on a regular basis are outstanding examples of living only in the "wow" - Paris Hilton, Britney Spears and most recently Pamela Anderson. Pamela Anderson decided to party New Year's Eve and left her two sons (ages 10 and 11) alone in a hotel room in Los Vegas.

We need the "how" to balance the "wow" but without any "wow" the "how" becomes pretty mundane. Hopefully this isn't sounding too much like a Dr. Seuss book!

We need "how living." BUT we also need "WOW living"! It's living beyond the "how" into the "wow" that pushes my heart to live and love even when it's hard, even when I don't really want to think more of someone else's needs than my own. The "wow" takes a lot more work than the "how."


Hiding in the "how" of living is ever so much easier and feels safer. There is none of the hard work of relationships, of conflict resolution or of loving and serving others. The "how" feels like order and control. Living in the "how" allows me to set rigid boxes for life. It is a whole lot easier and much less messy to stick to "how-living." There's just one small problem: that's not the way of the restored heart!


God restores my heart (and yours) so we can live in the balance of both the "how" and the "wow"! He sets our hearts free to live and love in ways that include the "how" but "pop" with the "wow"!


For 2008 I want God to push my being-restored-heart beyond "how-living" to "wow-living"! The first step on that path is finding the Gospel and its truths new and fresh every day for my heart. I need God's forgiving grace for my own heart every day. Then and only then can I live in God's gripping grace to love and serve others in "wow-living"!