God willing, when December 25th arrives I will have been around to participate in fifty Christmas seasons. Fifty! Man did that happen fast.
My family looks forward to Christmas each year and we do our best to make it an enjoyable season / event for everyone involved, but, speaking for myself, I gave up on creating the “perfect” Christmas experience years ago.
Perfect is an elusive outcome. Take some pressure off of yourself and just shoot for “grand”, that’s my advice.
In my opinion, a “perfect Christmas” has not been achieved since the very first Christmas, even though that first one would be deemed far from perfect by today’s standards.
Consider if you will the setting for that first Christmas….
Jesus was born to parents that were every bit as human as you and I. They didn’t live in black and white. Their world was just as in color for them as it is for us today. Look around, it was just that real.
Nine months pregnant Mary was not in the comfort of a modern home, or any home for that matter. According to scripture, she rode a donkey for days before giving birth.
Joseph, could do nothing for his pregnant wife except perhaps hold her hand or lead the donkey. As a husband, that is hard to imagine.
There were no reservations waiting for them at the local hospital, no light on at the local Motel 6, and after arriving at their destination town of Bethlehem the best shelter available was a stable, in a barn.
Indeed, these were humble surroundings to welcome Christ’s arrival, but humble surroundings was God’s plan.
The birth of the greatest example of an obedient servant the world has ever known, and a savior for those that would and will follow him, took place not within the pomp and circumstance of a royal palace……….but quietly in a common barn.
Things have changed to say the least over the centuries but the season, the birth of The Savior, is still to be celebrated.
So, do just that, and enjoy yourself! Deck the halls, the walls, the house, the front yard, even the dog. Do it up big just don’t forget the reason. Don’t forget the why” in it all, which is….
To celebrate the greatest gift of all. God incarnate in a human body, arriving as a baby, that would grow up too spend His life on this earth in the constant obedient execution of His Fathers’s will.
In Christ, God provided us with a living example of how He wants us to live, love, serve, and forgive while we are on this earth.
To those that choose to follow that example, to accept Christ as their savior, He offers eternal salvation when “this”, look around you again, is all over. Indeed the greatest gift of all.
In the midst of the chaos this Christmas season, make sure you pay attention to what is going on around you, slow down and take it in, and as Dr. Kevin Elko says, “be where your feet are”.
If there is one thing I have come to realize in recent years, it is that “this”…. is all happening really really fast.
Have yourself a Merry Christmas!
Get in the boat. Do your part.
From Nose To Toes!
Shane / #16
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