What are you putting away as you tidy Christmas up?

Praise the Lord, O my soul; all my inmost being, praise his holy name. Praise the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits – who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion, who satisfies your desires with good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.

Psalm 103:1-5

Phew, it’s over. Presents given and received. Gifts unwrapped. Turkey cooked, eaten and remains frozen for the inevitable turkey curry, turkey fricassee, turkey … Christmas has been well and truly done, and wasn’t it great? Carol singing, Christmas events and services, Christmas morning – all opportunities to share our faith and tell others about Jesus.

Now the new year is upon us, it is nearly 12th night, and time for the Christmas decorations to be carefully boxed up and stored until next year. Easter eggs will be appearing in the shops in the coming days. For some the credit card bill will drop through the letterbox with the cost of Christmas in cold black and white, for others it is time to start saving for next Christmas. All too easily we move from Christmas to the next thing on our calendar.

The Psalmist, David, knew the danger of moving on too quickly, for him he could see the risk of forgetting what was important. He cried out “Praise the Lord O my soul and forget not all his benefits.” He recognised the agency of God in his every day life, it is God who forgives his sins – and David knew he had many to be forgiven. It is God who heals all his diseases. It is God who redeems his life and crowns him with love and compassion.

As I reflect on those words I wonder how we would write them today? If we are honest we might admit that all too often it is the therapist or counsellor who helps us live with our compromised lives; it is the NHS who heals all our diseases; it is our hard work that satisfies our desires with good things. In short, we rely on almost anybody other than God.

Now of course there is nothing wrong with therapy and counselling, with the excellent NHS or indeed with hard work. But there is a lot wrong in a life that forgets God and all his benefits and that substitutes reliance on those things for reliance on God.

So as the year turns and Christmas is put away, why not take a check and consider what else you are putting away, what you put away as you leave the building where your church meets on Sundays, and ensure that with David you can say those marvellous words from Psalm 103.