Here I sit taking a personal day since the weekends from now until Christmas are packed full, I want to get some house work done and finish up some projects like moving into my place. Ha I have only been here for what, three months now. Well, the snow fell and it’s white outside and cold inside. As some of you know I tend to find this time of the year a very reflective time. I don’t know if it is because of the cold so I stay home more or if it is because my birthday is January 2nd, yes I did just slip that in, and I am another year older or if it is because of the season of Christmas that we have entered into. Honestly, I think it’s the double whammy of thinking about all Christ did for us and how much more I would have liked to accomplish through the last year for Him.
I have come into a new friendship with some folks that do not like to celebrate Christmas since it is not the “real” birth date of Jesus. It makes me think of the significance of the specific day. Is the miracle of Jesus birth in the day it happened or in all the stuff God did so that earth could be changed forever by the baby that was God of us all?
My point today is that the time doesn’t seem as important as the reason. Why do we celebrate Christmas?? What would your answer be? In my family this has become more of a conversation now that the four of us kids are grown, well at least three of us are, sorry Luke. Two of us will be parents by next May and one is just wanting to know what traditions are valuable in pointing us toward Christ and which are time wasters.
Since moving out on my own I have not really included a tree in my Christmas festivities in my own home but at Mom and Dad’s we have always had it to put presents under. There is scripture that talks about a tree; Jeremiah 10:1-? Read it if you are interested. It is good and may challenge your perspective.
I don’t really know how to celebrate this season or this event other than just thinking about what it meant that the God of the universe the creator of all became Emanuel. Not just God up there looking at us waiting to zap us but God WITH us. What does that mean to you?? To me it means that I do not have to be condemned to the point of being crippled by guilt. I can be victorious in this life with power to combat the enemy of the human race. I do not have to live as one that is an orphan. I belong to such a God that loves me so much that he removed Himself from the comfort of his home with his father and everything that defined him. He gave ALL, not some, all of that up so that he could be our redeemer. How did we receive him? Worse than many today. We gave him a barn. We have taken that incredible sacrifice and made it not much more than a fat old man who works one day a year. We argue over the semantics of the event and say, “well I celebrate it everyday.” Is that really what is expected from us? I totally think that we need to be ‘Christmas Christians’ everyday. We need to give more, smile more, ring a bell in recognition of the poor, volunteer at shelters, give to kids in need, maybe not carol to old people all year but consider their needs of companionship or whatever else you do because it is Christmas. We do!, but we also need to take some good old alone time to sit with God and thank him for his gift to us. I believe that is where the whole gift giving thing came from. I know some people say because the Magi gave to Jesus but I also think that we, though we don’t necessarily recognize it, want to give back and the way we do it is to give to one another. Of coarse, like everything else in this world that can get distorted too. I challenge you to talk to your family this year and have some discussions about why you do things the way you do and see if there are any modifications you need or want to make together. I believe that we as Christians need to make sure we are not just going along with the worlds example of what Christmas should look like but really know what and why we celebrate beyond the flippant, “Jesus is the reason for the season” true as it may be.
