THE CHRISTMAS SWEATER

Last week I was getting my nails done and struck up a conversation with the lady next to me. She had just retired from Fed Ex and our nail tech had given her a beautiful wrap that we were both gushing over. She commented that now she'd have something new and "snazzy" to wear during the holidays since she guessed she'd have to retire her CHRISTmas sweaters. I asked her what she meant.

She said her daughter was a student at Ole Miss. She had called her earlier in the week and asked if her Mom could quickly mail her one of her CHRISTmas sweaters. The reason? She needed one to wear to a CHRISTmas "tacky" party!! Ouch!!

I love CHRISTmas and for years I had quite the collection of CHRISTmas sweaters....pullovers, cardigans, and vests. I loved having something CHRISTmasy to wear every day of the month. It seems the tradition started quite a number of years ago when everyone was decorating sweatshirts. There were these iron-on appliques that you then outlined in glitter paint. Oh they were quite the craze!! My favorite was a deep blue sweatshirt with a huge Santa and sleigh with all the reindeer climbing into the night sky with all the stars aglitter above. I got many compliments on it every time I wore it. In fact, I wore it out! Now I wouldn't be caught dead in it.

I'd begun to notice over the last few years....even before my conversation with the Ole Miss mom...that only people MY age were wearing the CHRISTmas sweaters. So I had narrowed my collection down to the more subdued ones and to tee shirts with just a little something on them.

I got to thinking about how fads come and go. One year something is so the rage and the next year you better NOT wear it or you will be a fashion disaster. I know that Stacy and Clinton just go nuts every time they find a CHRISTmas sweater in someone's closet!

Lots of things besides CHRISTmas sweaters come and go. Car models change from year to year. Remember the llllooooonnnngggggg cadillacs of years past? Just look how far we've come from the Model T!

Decorating styles change in our homes. If you had a kitchen in the 70's, you had orange, avocado green and gold. (Hopefully none of you STILL have that !! HA!) My mother built her house in the mid 60's when turquoise was the "in" thing. She still has her turquoise appliances and every time someone sees them they are amazed because you never see those any more. And, yes, they still work!!!

I remember growing up seeing some people with the aluminum CHRISTmas trees. There was a multi colored light that swirled beneath it to make it change colors. Now you can get trees in every color under the rainbow. I have even seen trees that hang upside down!

Change .....it is part of life.

But there is one constant in our lives that never changes. JESUS. He is the "same yesterday, today and forever." (Heb. 13:8) And, His Word never changes. Jesus said, "Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away." (Matt. 24:35)

Isn't it wonderful to know that JESUS will never go out of style and that His word remains the same? We do not have to constantly be checking for revisions. There are no amendments to His Word.

You can buy a computer today and by tomorrow it will be obsolete. You can drive off the showroom floor today with a $50,000 vehicle, but by tomorrow it will have already begun to depreciate. Yet Jesus just gets sweeter with time. The longer I serve Him, the sweeter He grows!!

The CHRISTmas story never grows old. God sent His only begotten Son in the form of a baby, to be born in a manger, born of a virgin so that He could be our Savior. Think about that story today and thank God that it never changes.