Do you remember playing tug of war as a young person?  People are assigned sides, or two people get to choose who is going to be on their team. When we are very young everyone just grabs the rope and starts pulling their hardest to see if they can outpull the other side and drag them over the center line.  When we got older, it started to matter who stood where in the line up.  The strongest people in front and so on down the line and then someone switched those rules and the strongest was in the back.  In order for the game to end, everyone on one side had to be over the center line.  So it could go on for quite a while.   Most of us stop playing that game as we get older although I do believe sometimes people engage in it for purposes of strength conditioning and sometimes just as a game.

There are lots of ways that we see different kinds of tugs of war taking place in the world today.  We see it political debates, church politics, between religions, in families between adults and between parents and children, in schools in the relationships between students and classes, between teachers and administrators, between students and teachers, in communities and social groupings.

During the Holidays, domestic violence always increases.  The tug of war that families battle seems to be worse in times when there are lots of celebrations taking place.  The expectations that are put on people to bring the best whatever to whatever occasion, to dress accordingly according to whomever, to be happy even when we’re sad, to be with the ‘right’ people at the ‘right’ time and not get caught in the lies and betrayals that have played out throughout the year.  It is stressful.  This person doesn’t want to go to that person’s house, this one doesn’t want to go there and then there are those who want to be somewhere, with the people they love, and for whatever reason, they aren’t able to be there.  Sickness, lack of finances, work, weather conditions, the list is great.

There are so many distractions in the world and it is at such a time as this, that we celebrate the birth of Jesus.  The birth of children often causes us to experience a new and different kind of tug of war, the kind of tug of war that often causes us to reorder our priorities and pulls us into different directions. There has always been a tug of war for our hearts and our attention.  God has always desired for us to care for ourselves and other people.  In the beginning of creation we were commissioned with caring for the earth, with subduing it, taming and tending to all of creation as best as we were/are able.  That also meant caring for and subduing ourselves and other people.

There are so many stories about relationships in the bible and many of them are tug of war stories.

Jesus taught that there is a spiritual tug of war at work in this world.  There is a battle for your soul and it is a tug war worth paying attention to.  You choose which side you want to be on – you aren’t in the middle, you get to choose – each day, whom you help in this world.  You will either help the spiritual forces of evil, death and destruction,  or you will choose to help the spiritual forces of heaven, God, Jesus, Holy Spirit.   God wants you to be on his team, Satan wants you on his team.  The choice is yours, this Christmas, there are many people hoping you will choose to be on the Lord’s team and be a blessing to people in need.  Be a blessing to yourself, feed yourself some Good News about God’s Love for you every day.  Then be a blessing to someone else and share this Good News about God’s Love for them every day.  Thank God for the blessings of His Love, for you and the whole of creation, every day.

Lord, Thank you for choosing to create us in your heavenly image and for giving us the choice to love and serve you, to help you in the work of caring for all that and all whom, you have created.  Help us to love ourselves and others as you love us.  Remind us often of your Love for and your desire to Bless us.  Bind us together in your Love and Grant that we may bring peace and goodwill those whom are in need, to the glory of your Name, help us to do your will on earth and grant us Heavenly Peace.  AMEN