Picture
"So it was, while they were there, the days were completed for her to be delivered. And she brought forth her firstborn Son, and wrapped Him in swaddling cloths, and laid Him in a manger, because there was no room for them at the inn." Luke 2:6-7

Isn't it funny how Christmas changes when you become a mother?
I think back to when I was a child, excited, so excited about all of it. Lights, trees, my Christmas list, the yearly jaunt to Tennessee where there would be more lights, more trees, more presents (and cousins!)... It really is different when you are a child. Then, as you age, you become more jaded. Suddenly you see the gifts you didn't get, the gifts everyone else got, the stress, the fatigue... and Christmas is robbed. This is not a new thought. Just a true thought.

After you get married, it is more work. Parent's house, inlaws' house, trying to find the "perfect" present for people who don't really care or like what you get anyways. Those trips out of town become stressful and expensive. The lights and tree are work. And shopping? Ick. Crowds, money, aching feet...

Then... the baby comes. Ahhh, the baby. The magic of that baby's first Christmas. The anticipation every year of "Will she GET it this year? Will she KNOW who Santa Claus is?" Watching that light, that excitement, build through weeks of advent calendars, toy commercials, decorating... ahhh. Still a lot of work, but so worth it to know that you are reinstating that magic for your own child. It recaptures it a bit for yourself. The work? Seems easier, because it brings a smile to their face. The travel? More people in your baby's world that love them and want to see them. The money? Who doesn't enjoy finding items that you know your child will love?? It all becomes worth it. Everything has a purpose, and that purpose is to make it a magical time for your child!

Recently I was working on my baby's Christmas stocking (I have pics in my Christmas photos). I have made these stocking for each child, as my mom did for me and my siblings. It is very time-consuming, often frustrating, but worth it for the end result. I still cherish the one my mom made for me. This stocking I just finished has a detailed scene, including Mary holding the Baby Jesus. Something happened to me while working on this picture. While I stitched and sequined, knotted and cut, the image of this mommy holding this precious, precious baby moved me. This infant form of the God I worship, being tenderly held by His own earthly Mommy, a Mommy who had so much to celebrate that first Christmas, not the least of which was this new life in her arms (the ultimate in unexpected pregnancies!). This new life who would BECOME new life for people everywhere, for all time ("For there is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord" Luke 2:11). And she loved Him! She would have loved Him had He NOT been God. But how much more special that He was! I actually teared up while working on this stocking because I could FEEL that love. He was God, but for a very short time, He was hers.

Looking at that representation of the love of a mommy for her very special baby... much like the love I feel for my little guy, on this, his first Christmas. The love I feel for my 2-year-old son, who is just getting into the fun of the season. The love I feel for my daughter, who is understanding now what Christmas is, not only presents and fun, but Jesus's birthday as well. What a magical time of year this is for them, and for me, now that I get to be a part of it for them!

That initial joy we have, those first couple of years, often starts to wane as we try to figure out how to make Christmas HAPPEN for all these people (especially the little ones). We all want to do better, better than when we were kids, better than what we remember, many times better than what we can actually do. We want to make sure that they get everything they want as well as everything they need, that everything is perfect. And sometimes, when money is tight, or circumstances are bad, it can rob Christmas of that joy. I wonder how Mary felt when her precious baby's first Christmas was spent in a stable? That she had no better place for Him, this gift, this life? Perhaps, knowing who this baby was, instead of guilt and shame, of disappointment, she felt the joy of knowing that this baby was hers. This gift was hers. What an honor! What joy! How could Christmas get any better than that? And that God chose her to bring forth not only this gift for her, but for all people everywhere, for all time- what a thought! What a gift.

I guess the best thing we can do this Christmas, and every Christmas, is remember that the best gift has already been given, to us and to our kids. Christ. The next best thing is to make sure that THEY know that. No matter what is or isn't under the tree, which toys they saw on tv that they didn't get, they already have the BEST. How's that for perspective? Maybe then we can put joy in its proper place- right there at the front of the season.

And remember to be thankful for the gifts we have already received- these babies. Baby Jesus, and then the babies He gave to us. And pray, really pray, that their joy in this season is everlasting and untainted by growing up.
And ours too.

*I wrote this two years ago, but recently discovered it and wanted to share it with you. Merry Christmas to all of you, and may you remember how loved and blessed you TRULY are this Christmas season!
Add Comment
 
 
‎"Have you not know? Have you not heard? The everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, neither faints nor is weary. His understanding is unsearchable. He gives power to the weak, and to those who have no might He increases strength. Even though the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall, but those who wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint." Isaiah 40:28-31

"The Lord on high is mightier than the noise of many waters, than the mighty waves of the sea." Psalm 93:4

"Great is our Lord and mighty in power; His understanding is infinite." Psalm 147:5

Have you ever had one of those moments while reading the Bible where a passage that you have read a million times suddenly hits you a new way? It is one of my favorite things about the Bible- it never changes, but as YOU change, you understand it in new and different ways.
I had one of those moments yesterday. I use a Bible reading plan called  the Amazing Facts Bible Reading Plan- each day I read from 4 different parts of the Bible- OT, Psalms/Proverbs/etc, the Gospels, and the NT. The great thing about this plan is that it helps me to see how cohesive the Bible is in its entirety. I read the very first verse on this post (Is. 40:28-31) first, and then moved on to Luke. I am nearing the end, as Jesus is being prepared to be crucified.
The part that hit me was in verse Luke 23:26. "Now as they led Him away, they laid hold of a certain man, Simon a Cyrenian, who was coming from the country, and on him they laid the cross that he might bear it after Jesus." I've read it a million times, and usually just read OVER it. Right below it on the page, a footnote caught my attention. "Too weak from the beating to carry His cross all the way to the execution site, Jesus was helped by a passerby."
Suddenly a few things clicked for me- and I don't think I would have been able to see it without reading the OT passage first.
(Some history: Crucifixion was not only painful, but humiliating as well, for criminals sentenced to death. Part of that humiliation was that they had to carry their own cross to the site of execution, before crowds of people watching. The cross is large and heavy, cumbersome to carry, and- when you have already suffered beatings and lashings, extremely difficult as well. Jesus was so weak from his beatings that He was literally too weak to carry His cross.)

First of all, Jesus and God are the same- Jesus is God in the flesh ("I and the Father are one." John 10:30). God became man, with man's weakness and vulnerability, man's ability to feel physical pain and discomfort, for the specific purpose of becoming the ultimate sacrifice to atone for the sins for the people He loved so much. ("Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross." Phil. 2:5-8) The purpose, from the beginning to the end of the Bible, was the cross and redemption for all who believe. What struck me new, though, was this juxtaposition of God- who is mighty and all-powerful, who never grows faint or weary- and Jesus, who was so weak that He could not carry His own cross. Think about it for a minute.

God- who has EVERYTHING, who is mighty and high- left His throne to become a man, with man's weakness. He CHOSE to do that. He certainly didn't have to! I know that if I had the choice between comfort and pain, I would choose comfort every time. He CHOSE to suffer exceedingly, though He knew from the beginning of the world that that was the goal, for His people, His creation. He chose to physically die an excruciating and humiliating death because it was the only way.

The enormity of this sacrifice struck me for a couple of different reasons. One of these reasons is just what I wrote above. Another is this: it is easy to forget sometimes that God has been where we are. Sometimes He can seem so very far removed from what we are going through, as He is high and mighty and perfect- He does not have our struggles, He does not have our pain- there is no pain in heaven, nor are there tears, nor is there strife. ("And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away." Rev. 21:4)
 Sure, He is God, but how could He really KNOW what we are going through?
Because He has experienced it.
He has been through it.
Not only has He been through it, He chose to go through it. Not only did He choose to go through it, but what He went through is so much worse than anything that most of us will ever have to deal with in our lives. Our struggles are NOTHING compared to what He did and had done to Him.
Doesn't that blow you away? It does me!

Because of His sacrifice, God- in His infinite wisdom, in His mercy, and in His human experience- is uniquely able to understand EXACTLY what we suffer. ("For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin." Hebrews 4:15) ("For in that He Himself has suffered, being tempted, He is able to aid those who are tempted." Hebrews 2:18) To see our hearts and not only know that we are hurting, but to understand that hurt- and in His infinite love for us and His mercy, to offer relief or peace. Simon was able to offer physical relief to Jesus for a bit, but only God can offer true peace in the midst of extreme and painful circumstances. ("Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God." 2 Cor. 1:3-4)

I think that this story is the perfect example of what this verse means: "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." 2 Cor. 12:9. God's power to save and to heal, to bring peace and redemption, was made perfect and complete in Jesus's weakness and death. There really was no other way.
("Therefore in all things He had to be made like His brethren, that He might be a merciful and faithful High Priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people." Hebrews 2:17)
2 Comments