Monday Morning Memo: Simplicity

It’s so hard to believe that Christmas is this week.  Has it really been almost a year since last Christmas?  The calendar shows that it has…but at times I think it must be wrong J

I decided to be a bah-humbug person this year and not decorate for Christmas.  Now before you throw your tangled tinsel at me…let me explain.  We left on Thanksgiving Day to head to North Carolina for the wedding and we didn’t return home again until December 12th.  There weren’t enough hours in my day before the wedding to get the house adorned and I realized by the time I was back home that the decorations would only be up for two weeks before I would be putting them away.  Our Christmas gathering won’t be in our home this year…one of our kids is hosting…so I finally determined that my sanity would be a little more intact if I just skipped dragging all the boxes out.

But if I’m honest…I felt guilt over this decision.  Everyone else was posting pictures of their homes…looking like something out of the Good Housekeeping magazine or a Thomas Kinkade painting…with numerous decorated trees and fireplaces adorned with stockings…all while I came home to a house that didn’t look any different than if it was July.         

But then, we went to our daughter’s home and our five-year-old grandson excitedly told me to go into their living room to see their Christmas tree.  His eyes were just dancing with delight, but I soon found out it wasn’t the actual tree that he was so thrilled to show me.  Under the tree he had a most precious gift he wanted to give us.  It was a simple ornament he had made.  He handed it to me and said, “I actually made it for myself…but then I decided I wanted to give it to you and grandpa.”  Be. Still. My. Heart.

Two days later, we went to visit my 92-year-old aunt.  She told me that there was a box in her room with several Christmas ceramic pieces in it and if I wanted them, I was welcome to take them.  I carefully took them out of the box and immediately loved them…not just because they were pretty…but because they were from my aunt whom I dearly love.  What a treasure.

To top it off…two days after seeing my aunt, we went to a gathering with our small group from church, and we were given another most precious piece…which made sure we remembered the true meaning of Christmas.

As I reflected on these treasured gifts…I knew I couldn’t wait a year to display them.  So, this past Saturday, I scrounged through my decorations and found a small tree and put it on our mantle.  The two prized ornaments were hung with care and the ceramic pieces were plugged in.  Simple…but oh such meaning for me.

It is a reminder to me of how simple that first Christmas was for the birth of our Savior.  Mary and Joseph didn’t check into the Holiday Inn…they were in a dirty barn with, more than likely, a variety of animals.  Baby Jesus wasn’t laid on a royal throne…but in a feeding trough that those animals had used.  And the local Welcome Wagon wasn’t someone dressed with pearls and high heels…but shepherds whose smell probably wasn’t too enticing…since they had been out tending to their sheep.

Simplicity.  That’s the story of Christmas…the story of Jesus.  But I’m afraid that way too often we throw in so many other reasons for the season that we often forget the simple story.  He came.  He lived.  He died.  He rose again.  Why?  For you…and for me…because He loves us that much.  

If you are feeling overwhelmed this Christmas season…stop and reflect on the simplicity of that first Christmas.  Make sure that you aren’t feeling overwhelmed because you are comparing your Christmas circumstances with those who may seem to have more than you.  Allow me to let you in on a little secret…just because others may have more twinkle in their decorations than you do…doesn’t mean Jesus shines more brightly in their home than yours.  He came for everyone and having Him shine brightly through your life is what is really important.  That my friend, is what Christmas is all about. 

My prayer is for you to have a very Merry Christmas…one where the simplicity of the day will make your life shine brightly for the newborn King!

         “The Savior—yes, the Messiah, the Lord—has been born 

today in Bethlehem, the city of David!  And you will recognize him by this sign: 

You will find a baby wrapped snugly in strips of cloth, lying in a manger.

Suddenly, the angel was joined by a vast host of others—the armies of heaven—

praising God and saying,

“Glory to God in highest heaven,

and peace on earth to those with whom God is pleased.”

Luke 2:11-14  (NLT)