Ready…Set…GO! Crank up your energy and dive into Christmas week. Last minute shopping, wrapping gifts, grocery shopping so you can make all those recipes you’ve been saving for the holidays, emptying out those extra bedrooms that you’ve been using as storage rooms so your company has a place to sleep, bathe the dog, clean the house, practice remembering names of distant relatives who you only see once a year, threaten your kids that they better be on their best behavior and say thank you for whatever grandma and grandpa give them…even if they didn’t get what they wanted AND slap that Christian smile on your face even though you are exhausted and in desperate need of sleep.
Wow…sounds like a fun week, huh? I’m tired from just typing the words, let alone accomplishing the tasks. We often talk about Christmas being such a wonderful, love-filled holiday, but we often cram so much into this time that we end up just living in survival mode until it is all over.
What a shame. I really doubt this is what God had in mind when He sent his Son into the world as a baby. I just don’t think He hoped that this miracle would send us into a frenzy each year as we cleaned, cooked, purchased, wrapped, threatened and then lived behind a façade that everything was A-OK in our world.
I think many of us fall into this trap because we have made Christmas about US instead of about HIM. We want everything to be just perfect and so we do what we have to do to make sure everyone gets what they want, instead of giving Him what He deserves. As a result, we do what a sign I read tells us not to do: “Don’t get your tinsel in a tangle”!
Yes, our tinsel gets in a tangle and then stress overwhelms us and we ignore the Christ of Christmas. I overheard two patients in the cancer center talking about this one day. A young man and a woman were sitting across from each other as they each received their cancer treatment. The woman began talking about how she used to fret about Christmas, but now she doesn’t do that anymore. She said she has realized that Christmas is about Christ and not about us. The young man, with a quivering chin and tears in his eyes, nodded his head as he looked out the window and said, “Yes, I just want to be with family and friends. That’s all I want”.
I understand that we all want our family to be happy and feel loved during this season, but let’s make sure our focus is on the One who made it all possible. As we go throughout our week, when we feel the tension rising, why not take a moment and say to ourselves, “I am NOT going to get my tinsel in a tangle.” Of course, we might want to make sure our relatives don’t hear us say it because they just might give us a straitjacket for Christmas!
“For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given:
and the government shall be upon his shoulder:
and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor,
The mighty God, The everlasting Father,
The Prince of Peace.”
MERRY CHRISTMAS!!
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