Holy Ground

I must ask for your patience while I lead up to the topic I'm writing about today.  Please bear with me.  

John & I have been enjoying Christmas music for a few weeks now.  Not constantly, of course.  He has been slipping in a Christmas CD now & then along with other CDs he's been playing.  Some of these Christmas CDs feature one artist only. Others feature various artists.  One particular song has been showing up on more than one of these various artists CDs.  The title ... Driving Home for Christmas.  The melody isn't really unpleasant, but the lyrics drive me up the wall.  

I have my share of Christmas songs that I find annoying.  I'm sure there are a few such songs that come to your mind as well.  One person absolutely loves Grandma Got Run Over By A Reindeer, but another person wants to cover their ears when they hear it.  All I Want for Christmas is My Two Front Teeth fills one person's mind with happy memories, yet another person can't shut off the radio fast enough when this song starts to play.  

I realize that song lyrics reflect the lyricist's manner of speech along with their own memories or idealization of a subject.  We are most likely all familiar with artistic license ...  "the distortion of fact, alteration of the conventions of grammar or language, or rewording of pre-existing text made by an artist in the name of art."  Artistic license is used quite a bit, & typically it doesn't bother me. But sometimes ... sometimes ... it does.  

The lyricist who penned Driving Home for Christmas relates the story of a man who is, as the title suggests, driving home for Christmas.  As he sets out for his destination, he decides to sing this little song to pass the time.  He is excited about seeing his family, sharing old memories, etc. At one point he looks over & sees a man in the car next to him, & he sings "I look at the driver next to me.  He's just the same."  I'm usually not so nitpicky, but really?  How can you look at the person in the car next to you & assume he's the same as you ... driving home for Christmas, looking forward to spending time with family, reliving holiday traditions, etc?  Maybe that guy doesn't even celebrate Christmas.  Maybe he's a Jehovah's Witness, or Jewish.  Maybe he hates Christmas.

The most annoying line of this song, however ... for me ... is where this person is stuck in traffic but he knows the freeway is up ahead.  The line goes like this ... 

"Soon there'll be a freeway,

I'll get my feet on holy ground."

Later in the song he eludes to the fact that when he arrives home he will be on "holy ground." 

I may not be the sharpest knife in the drawer, but I'm pretty sure that neither a freeway nor the home where we grew up is "holy ground."  But what is?  Is it the floor of a church?  Is it the Via Dolorosa where Jesus walked, carrying His cross on the way to His crucifixion?  Is it the hill where He was criucified?  Is it the tomb in which His body was placed?  It is the stable in which He was born?  Well, God is so good!  He knew that my little pea brain was looking for an answer, & He gave me one via a Joyce Meyer devotional. Yes, I'm sorry ... Joyce Meyer again.  The devotional is titled Holy Ground.  After citing the above scripture, Joyce writes ...

"You are God's tabernacle.  Your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit.  He lives in you!  Wherever you go, He goes.  If you go to the grocery store; if you play golf; if you go to work ... He goes.  Ordinary things & places are not holy in themselves, but when we go & do them, God has promised to be with us.  And any place God is becomes holy."

After reading this devotional, God led me to do a little more research on the subject.  I think David Wilkerson, American Christian evangelist & author of the book, "The Cross & the Switchblade," defines it best.

"Holy ground is not a physical place, but a spiritual one.  When God commanded Moses to take off his shoes because he was on holy ground, He was not referring to a two-by-four piece of real estate.  He was talking about a spiritual state.  ...Moses had arrived at a place in his growth where God could get through to him.  He was now in a place of reception, ready to listen.  He was mature & ready to be dealt with by a holy God."

I pray that I will reach this spiritual state in my relationship with God.  I pray that you will reach it too.

I wish you a blessed Sunday & week ahead!