Deep inhale. Long exhale.
Four days before Christmas, I can almost relax. I’ve only got a few things left to do. I can see the Christmas lights at the end of the long, dark, busy tunnel.
As a child, I thought Christmas was simple. Make a list of toys, attend parties, sing some Christmas carols, then wait for the big day. The older I get, the more complicated Christmas seems. Y’all know what I’m talking about:
- dragging the decorations out of the attic, then spending the next week walking around them as you try to get them all put into place
- scurrying from programs to parties, making sure everybody is where they need to be at the right time
- shopping for the perfect gifts for all 55 people on your list
- baking homemade goodies and making homemade crafts so everyone thinks you really are that Pinterest mom
- getting everybody in your family to smile at exactly the same time so that your Christmas cards look like something out of a magazine
It’s exhausting and draining…and nowhere near simple!
Over the past few years, I’ve found myself wishing that Christmas could be simple as it was intended to be…like the first Christmas. But as I was thinking about it this week, I realized there was nothing simple about the birth of Christ. In fact, I think it might’ve been more complicated than anything we experience. Think about it…
Mary, a virgin, pregnant. By law, she should’ve been killed. Joseph, her betrothed, faced public humiliation, yet after an angel appeared to him in a dream, married her anyway. Then, they {Mary being largely pregnant} travelled to be counted in the census. And, of course, there was no room to be found, so they ended up in a stable, where Jesus was born. {Talk about luxury accomodations.} I won’t even go into the details of childbirth, but y’all know that ain’t easy or simple!! And don’t forget shepherds who were approached by an angel and told of Jesus’ birth. And finally, the wise men who travelled to see Jesus, led by a star, took him gold, frankincense and myrrh {not a cheap ballon and a chicken casserole}, then had to take an alternate route home to avoid Herod, who wanted to kill Jesus.
Whew.
Nope…nothing simple at all about Christmas.
My complications are merely distractions. But that complicated Christmas long ago is the focus…the birth of the humble Savior…sent to earth by God to reconcile the world to Himself.
