Christmas season is upon us. Some of us may be ready and others may still have a long list waiting. I am somewhere in the middle. I love Christmas and it is my favorite time of year. Easter is a close second. I know I am starting to get older, because I have become much more reflective with each passing holiday. Some of my thoughts...
As a child, I couldn't wait for school to be out and a week's vacation to begin. I loved helping bake cookies and wrap gifts. I loved Christmas concerts and hearing the beautiful music. I liked opening Christmas stockings and the excitement of opening one gift on Christmas Eve and then having to wait till morning to open the rest. I remember sitting on my window sill as a very young child and wondering how it would be if Santa really was for real. Flying through the night sky delivering packages. I had favorite Christmas movies that you only had one chance of watching it, they didn't have it play every three days starting at Thanksgiving and going till Christmas day. All the better if it snowed on Christmas and we could play outside and have warm hot chocolate. I loved Christmas caroling with our church. I also remember clearly standing outside on a cold winter night and watching the stars and wondering, "what must His star have looked like?". I also enjoyed going to a local church and watching them reenact the Christmas Story.
I have grown up and many of those things I still love about Christmas. I love sending Christmas cards, receiving them, wrapping gifts and baking, baking, baking. I enjoy playing my Cd's with my favorite songs. I love decorating the house for Christmas and my favorite decoration still remains the Nativity set. I look upon that set and my mind wonders....how did we go from that to this?
I am not judging anyone and I am the first in line to celebrate some of the more secular traditions along with everyone else. But as I said earlier, I am being more reflective. I have noticed this year, maybe more than others past, that people as a whole are more exhausted looking. They are not laughing and happy while shopping. They are tired, they are stressed and just getting stuff of the shelves to have something for the kids to open. They are yelling at their children, they are standing in long lines and snapping at those around them. They are in hurry. They cut people off in the parking lot, and are pulling out in front of you while driving as if their time is more important than your time.
I wish things could be like a Hallmark movie. You know, the perfect log cabin decorated with fresh greens and snow on the roof. The person who hates their job or loses their job, finds the best one for them in 90 minutes and of course the single person who doesn't have a family finds prince charming and they are happily ever after, or all the towns people knows your name and support you in all you do.... I love Hallmark and I love their movies, I have seen many, but if that was our world, would the baby had to have come? Yes, because sin had entered the world long before movies were made and the relationship between God and man was forever changed, but you understand what I am saying. Since sin has entered the world it day by day decaying.
If you would ask people on the street about Jesus at Christmas, many would know the facts. Even the non-believers know the facts. Satan knows the facts. My challenge this week for all of us is the rest of the story. We get so excited about Christmas and all it brings. We put Jesus in the manger, where He should be this time of year, however, we then put Him back in the box and on the shelf till next year. His coming was huge! The prophets spoke of his coming 700 years before he came. Then God was silent for 400 years. The Word was made flesh, in a squirming little baby boy. That which created the world, came into it. Read that again. That which created the world came into it. Quietly. Life moved on. The animals remained and the Inn kept getting guests. The shepherds went back to their flocks. Life was quiet for 30 years. Then that little boy grew up. Those close to him could see he was different. He began his ministry and called his disciples. The whole point in his coming was to save his people, it is the reason he was called Jesus in the first place. The other name was Emmanuel - God with us. My personal favorite. For you see, He has never left. Once He died and rose again, the Holy Spirit came to reside inside each and every believer. God is still with us, in the form of the Holy Spirit.
Don't forget the rest of the story. Yes, celebrate his birth, but please don't put Him back on the shelf in the box. Invite him into your heart and allow him to write the rest of the story into your life. We know the rest of His story, it is recorded best in the book of John and Revelation. His birth is recorded best in Luke. If you have time this week or month, go back and read those accounts in Matthew and Luke, then this winter, read the book of John. There is so much more to him then being a baby in a manger. That my friend is just the beginning! Then pray about it and ask God to show you places you can tell and show others the rest of His story. Not just the Christmas story, but the rest of it. So many around us are hurting and money can't buy what they need. They need a Savior and you and I aren't it, Jesus is the one and only.
I wish you each a very Merry Christmas and blessings in the New Year! I plan to continue my blog but life has gotten a bit busier for me and so I see myself writing every other week instead of weekly, but will trust God with that. Time will tell. I have always said I will do this blog as long as He gives me the thoughts. I appreciate your feedback and may you love Him more today than you did yesterday, I know I do.
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