a thing belonging or appropriate to a period other than that in which it exists, esp. a thing that is conspicuously old-fashioned
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In today's world, we can often feel like anachronisms. Sometimes, as a Mennonite, I feel like an anachronism as I'm one of the few people around here who believe that the military should only be used in cases of defense, never to attack someone directly.
As a Christian, I feel like an anachronism a lot of the time, too, especially around Christmas.
Sometimes holding onto traditional values and trying to keep a perspective outside of myself and my own wants can be really difficult. I feel almost like a misfit among the crowds lining up outside the stores, demanding that I keep up with all the fads and new toys that are coming out. If I'm not up on the newest and shiniest thing, and if it's not on my "wish list", it's like I'm already an antique. I'm not even old enough for childrenses to be calling me that yet!
Yet, there's nothing wrong with being a misfit. If you are cast out because you see things differently than others do, that can be a good thing. Following the crowd can sometimes lead to a cliff.
But the reason I follow Christ and and keep trying to be separate from the consumerist cult is not because I want to be different just for the sake of non-conformity. If I wanted to do that, I could dye my hair a weird colour and start piercing random orifices.
No, I want to follow Christ because I believe it is the right thing to do, because I believe it's what we were created to do. I believe we are here to be loved by God, to embrace that love, and to share that love with all of his creation. That's why God gives presents in this first place.
He blesses us with so much every day, the biggest gift he's given us is the gift that never stops giving: Himself. His sacrifice for us was not only dying for all of our sins, but also humbling himself from a state of omnipresence and omnipotence to a weak and fragile human form, susceptible to temptation and corruption, always reliant upon the Spirit.
This is the God I want to follow. The god whose palace is the stable and whose thrown is the cross.
If following this means I have to be separated, to be an anachronism, then so be it. I would much rather celebrate the real reason for the season than the fake frenzy I see every time I go to Walmart.
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OK, I was actually going to talk about MS Paint Adventures in this post, but then I got carried away talking about Christmas, which I was going to parsimoniously talk about it anyway.
Oh well, maybe some other time. I will have so much to talk about. Soooooooo much!!!!!!!!
On a less serious not however, my dorm and B's dorm did a Trading Spaces and decorated each other's dorms with Christmas stuff! The girls put wrapping paper on all our doors, hung giant snowflakes on the ceiling and made a paper fireplace by our couches!
Their decorations were so creative and all handmade! By contrast, our dorm bought a lot of our stuff at Walmart (part of the inspiration for this post) and put a real tree in their lounge room. We also made a gingerbread house, which somehow turned out a lot less cute then we thought it would.
Here's a quote I had to write down from my dorm mate that accurately describes the differences of the decorations:
"I like how the girls actually put effort into it and were really creative, while we just threw money at it and chopped down a tree. And the only thing we did put effort into ended up with a decapitated Santa whose blood formed a dick on the roof."
So. . . yeah. But the rest of it was really well done and the girls appreciated what we did, just as much (I hope) as we like how our dorm turned out.
Anyway, I hope you have a good beginning of the holiday season! Good luck with your final exams!
I'm sure you'll do amazing!
Merry Christmas from The Minister of Battle Stuff! See you real real soon!
-Clayton
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