Mike Farris:
Once referred to as holy days, Christmas and Easter seem like obvious opportunities for us to treasure God. But with commercialism swirling around us, Noël, how can we make our celebrations overflow with our love for God?

Noël Piper:
“Holy days” is where we get the word “holidays,” and so I think that’s important to look back, as you mentioned it—“holy days.” They are the markers of the most important things that God’s done in our lives. So we pull out all of the books that we have that have anything to do with that time, we try to learn songs together, we pretty much stay away from stores and malls as much as we can (where other people are forming the agenda for the season) and talk about what God has done. Maybe we have special centerpieces on the table at home, special devotional times together, that will help us think toward what it is we will be celebrating at Christmas, or we will be celebrating at Easter, to really let our words be filled with God and not shaped by the fairytales of the culture around us.

Mike:
Noël, I want to thank you so much for the reminder to really focus on God and His holiness and what He’s done for us in the midst of our family life and in the midst of the world that swirls around us. I’m Mike Farris.