Preparing Hearts and Traditions for Hanukkah

Officially, Feast of Tabernacles is over now, although our temporary dwelling continues as we wait for our home to be built. We wait to enter our Promised Land, but we are enjoying this time dwelling among our lovely friends.

My daughter's birthday is approaching fast now, so I am keeping busy with pinatas and guest lists, but Hanukkah is still on my mind. I've selected a couple crafts for my family already and am looking forward to putting together some special things to begin our new traditions together, and to help them gain a deeper understanding of this special season.

Our Hanukkiah is packed in storage with little hope for finding it, I fear, so I have decided to craft one myself this year. I found this version made of hardware, paint, and a strip of wood on Martha Stewart's web site and I fell in love. It's simple, sparkly, and looks easy to make. I just need to find some candles first so I can correctly size the nuts I need to build it with. This web site offers quite a few varieties of Hanukkah crafts but as hectic as my life is these days, I wanted something easy. Once I make it, I will post pictures.

In addition, when we used to celebrate Christmas, my kids loved having advent calendars of their own as they counted the days. Hanukkah is particularly geared toward counting days, so I was thrilled when I found a variation of this theme for children. This matchbox menorah will fit the bill just fine, as each day they can slide open a box and reveal another flame. I may even include a scripture for each day to remind the children the significance of each and every flame they "light." I am making four - one for each of my children - although I am considering a fifth for the 16 year old girl with whom we are sharing a home these days.

After a brief conversation with her one day this week about why we are passing on Christmas and a lot of reassurance that if they had a tree I wouldn't be at all offended, she said she wanted to research it herself. "If the Bible is clear and history is clear on the origins of Christmas, then there is only one thing to do," she said. I drove off to get my kids from school and returned about three hours later to hear her telling her mom that she wants to celebrate Hanukkah now and not do Christmas things anymore. Naturally, this teen deserves a matchbox menorah of her very own.

My goal is not to convert people to think the way I think. I really don't believe I have that power. I do believe I have the responsibility to share what I believe, and what I have discovered, and to encourage others to do their own research if they are curious. I really didn't expect this teen to seriously consider giving up Christmas at her age. Kids love Christmas! I loved it myself. I just had to decide whether I loved Jesus or Christmas more. And as soon as I thought about it that way, there was only one answer for me. Apparently, there was only one answer for her as well.

The Holy Spirit is doing something I think. I am just getting in on it, now, and I believe He's been working in hearts for years and years - centuries even. I believe He is calling the church back to Himself, to no longer tolerate that Jezebel (paganism/idolatry) in our midst. Many don't want to hear. Many want to linger at the pagan altars that merely have been painted over with "Christian" terminology. I don't think less of them. I was one of them, refusing to lay aside my Christmas! It has to be a work of the Holy Spirit in each individual's life. He works in people differently. Some may never even have heard the truth behind the ways Christians worship. My job is to educate and inform. My work ends in the sharing, the articulation and the encouraging of others to do their own research. God does the rest in His timing.