Doing the Right Thing

Doing what is right seemed to be the theme for my devotionals this morning. One talked of the holidays and newlyweds figuring out how to share time with both families during the holidays. This was the one that spoke very loudly to me. My extended family is fairly large, six children and eight grandchildren. And I have always enjoyed spending time with them all especially during the holidays. To me it is the big family gatherings that mean the most and make it all, Christmas.
I don’t have children or grandchildren in my home so I cling to those gatherings as if they were a life raft. And I have been somewhat vocal about the desire of my siblings to try and change the day that we all come together to celebrate. Years ago, Carolyn, my stepmother, said I don’t care where you go the rest of the year you will be at my house on Christmas day. Then we all started getting married, and that brought in a whole new twist, the in-laws. Of course they wanted their children at their house on Christmas day too. So what happened Carolyn caved and we started celebrating at different times of the month of December. At first this was fine with me, but as the celebration started getting farther and farther away from December 25th I started to get more and more upset. After all this was my only Christmas. Ray’s family is for the most part all gone so spending time with them is not an option. And to be honest Ray is not “into” Christmas like I am. So the very idea of spending Christmas day alone at home, just the two of us is pretty dismal. So I started complaining and grousing about our family being just as important as the families of everyone else and why did our family have to be the one to compromise. I even thought about boycotting the family Christmas just to show them. But the only one who would really be affected by this would be me. So did I want to as my grandmother would say “cut off my nose to spite my face? No, I truly love being in the middle of that chaotic celebration.
So I am trying to “do the right thing” and be sensitive to the needs of others, even though it is difficult at times. We all have a tendency to put self first, but I am also learning that there is truly joy in doing what is right and dealing justly with others as the scripture says.