“Are
you all ready for Christmas?” It’s a
familiar topic of conversation this time of year; for some reason we all like
to see if anyone is more or less prepared than we are! “Am I
ready for Christmas?” When it comes to
all of the traditions and preparation that our family does to get ready for
this holiday, I usually answer with an exasperated and frazzled, “No, not at
all!” Shopping, Christmas Tree hunting,
decorating, cookie baking, wrapping, cards written and sent, packages sent,
school parties, Church programs, concerts, dinner planning; whewy! It makes a body tired just writing down all
that needs to be done.
It’s always been so interesting to
me how as women at this busy time we can divide ourselves into two groups:
those who start Christmas early and are ready well before the big day; they are
organized and have a well thought out plan as to what needs to be done in order
to create a memorable holiday with the least amount of stress. Then there are those who procrastinate until
the very last minute and are scrambling like crazy to get everything
accomplished in the last few days before Christmas. I fall into that category. Each morning Kade changes the cactus on his
Cowboy Santa Advent Calendar and comes out to announce to me how many days we
have left until December 25th.
Each morning I find myself shocked that it’s getting closer and
closer! Here it is December 23rd,
and we are just now getting ready to take a trip to town to do our Christmas
shopping! We were so frazzled trying to
get a tree cut that I was actually prepared to (gasp) buy a fake tree (much to
the dismay and adamant refusal of Hannah!).
Maybe we’ll get some Christmas baking done on Christmas Eve, but more
than likely I will go and buy some of those really soft & yummy sugar
cookies at IGA, just so we have something to leave for Santa.
I think
that one of the reasons that I find myself so harried this time of year is
because I refuse to even start thinking about Christmas until the day after
Thanksgiving. I want to enjoy one
holiday at a time; and although I don’t think that there is anything wrong with
that way of thinking, I end up about a month behind every year! At the end of every Christmas season I always
tell myself that next year is going to be different, and yet each Christmas I
find myself scurrying around trying to get things ready to make a picture perfect
holiday for my family. Meanwhile my
family is telling me that I’m acting like a crazy Christmas person, sucking all
of the fun and joy out of a celebration that is supposed to be joy filled and
fun. I am so grateful that God has
blessed me with a man who balances out my crazy with his calm, because Mike continually reminds me that
I need to settle down and remember what and why we are celebrating.
What
and why are we celebrating? Am I ready
for Christmas? These questions have
given me reason to pause and ponder my answer.
I suppose that it’s different for everyone; we each have our own
attitudes, mindsets and beliefs about what this season is all about. I really do love all of the celebrating that
goes along with this time of year, and yet I think that I tend to allow all of
the outward trappings of Christmas to get in the way of celebrating
Christ. The presents and the decorations
and the baking and the parties and the Christmas meals are all wonderful
“wrappings”, but the true gift is Jesus.
I love the simplicity of the story told in Luke: “And she gave birth to
her firstborn son; and she wrapped Him in cloths, and laid Him in a manger,
because there was no room for them in the inn.”
This story has been told so many times that I think we lose the wonder
and majesty of it. And I wonder if I’ve
become like one of the many people in crowded Bethlehem at that time. I wonder if I am bustling around so much
preparing to celebrate Christmas, that I’ve missed seeing the Messiah. I’ve left no room for Jesus in the Inn
either; I’ve allowed my life to become so crowded with stuff and activities
that I’ve not allowed myself to slow down and look for Jesus.
If it
were just the story of the miracle of this baby’s birth, then I think that the
way we go about our days preparing for Christmas would be just fine. But the story of his birth is just the
beginning; it’s the story of the Cross and the tomb that make the difference as
to how I want to celebrate Christmas!
Because it all comes down to the fact that in Jesus, in this little baby
that was born in such lowly and humble circumstances, we have life! John 20:31 says, “but these have been written
so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that
believing you may have life in His name.”
When we believe in Jesus, the Messiah, our Savior, Lord and King, we are
given life. And not just abundant life
here on earth, but eternal, everlasting, never ending life with Him in
heaven!! Now that is something to celebrate!
I think
about the shepherd’s reaction to the message they received from the angels, it
immediately had them seeking Christ. And
then when they found Him, their excitement couldn’t be contained; it bubbled
over and motivated them to go out and tell everyone about what they had just
seen and experienced. “After seeing him,
the shepherds told everyone what had happened and what the angel had said to
them about this child. All who heard the
shepherds’ story were astonished.” (Luke 2:17-18 NLT). I don’t want to be like one of the crowd; going
about my day, going about this holiday focused on all of the things that need
to be done, all of the presents that need to be bought, worried about whether
or not I’m leaving someone out and then stressed about all of the money we are
spending. I want to be like those
shepherds! I want the excitement and the
wonder of Jesus’ birth, of the fact that God came down to us as a tiny baby, to
just bubble over in my life. I don’t want to contain the joy that I have
because of Jesus, and I want to share it with others so that they can also be
amazed.
The
next time that the question,“Are you
ready for Christmas?” is asked, I plan on changing
the context of it to mean “Are you ready to celebrate Christ? Have you thought about what it means that God
came down to us as a newborn baby? Do
you believe that Jesus wants to give you joy and peace and everlasting
life? Have you made room for Him in your
heart, or has He been moved to a stable in some far off corner of your
life?” I know that asking myself these
questions has changed the way that I see and celebrate this Christmas
season. I hope that it does the same for
you, and that you find that celebrating Christ doesn’t need to happen just
during the Christmas season, but is something that we can celebrate every day.
“Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among men
whom He is pleased!” Luke 2:14
