It’s Christmas Time Again
In case you haven’t noticed, it’s Christmas Time again! Corinne March reminds us not to lose sight of the joy, love and peace that Christmas time brings.
“We Saw His Star”
“After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalemand asked, ‘Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.’” (Matthew 2:1-2)
Christmas Time Again
Here it is Christmas time again. Many love and look forward to climbing up to the dusty attic, down to the dark corners of the basement or into the side closet to pull out the Christmas tree, untangle the lights, and place each ornament carefully. Many love and look forward to bundling up, going out into the cold to drag out the ladder and carefully nail up lights on the house.
Many love and look forward to bringing out the various cartoon and Disney characters to inflate and set up on the lawn. Many love and look forward to baking all sorts of delightful goodies, cookies, cakes, making candy, and serving up scrumptious snacks. Many love and look forward to all of these things. Many, except probably for me.
I Don’t Like Decorating
Now don’t get me wrong. It’s not that I don’t love and look forward to Christmas. I just don’t like decorating…and baking and cooking…and cleaning meticulously…and then just having to take everything down in a month and clean meticulously again.
Christmas traditions are sweet. Baking cookies and making a gingerbread house with the kids can be kind of fun. Decorating the tree together can be a memorable and even teachable event, as we sort through and tell the origin story of each ornament as it comes out of the box.
There is something quite dazzling about outdoor lights and something so exciting for our children as we go down the street to see if our neighbors have remembered to inflate “Olaf” tonight (and how long it will be into the new year until they finally get around to taking him down). Yes, there is something quite heartwarming about those things.
The Busyness of Fall
Yet perhaps it seems like we just got through the busyness of fall, finally getting into the swing of activities and schooling, only to find ourselves with a month full of obligations. Perhaps I just find myself reeling back at the idea of a full two week vacation of chores. So I look forward to it…but I don’t.
Complicating Things
We people have a way of complicating many things in our lives. While I am grateful for the advancements in medicine and technology in our modern age, I am overwhelmed by the amount of responsibility and concern it brings. We rely on so much to keep our lives going, that it’s a big deal when the power goes out, the furnace quits, or the car breaks down.
It’s a big deal when we lose our cell phone, or our wallet, and have to stop our lives almost completely to get them back. It’s an ordeal if the mail carrier were to deliver our mail one day, only to slip on our crooked doorstep, and decide to sue us. We have to be concerned with so many insurance and protection plans, to bail us out in the event that any of these things happen. So everything becomes quite complicated.
The Christmas Story
We do the same thing around the Christmas story. We talk about Mary riding on a donkey, with her and Joseph arriving at something like a modern day hotel or motel.
We talk about Jesus born in a wood structured stable, and three kings coming to visit. We talk about the animals looking around at him and how he never cried. All of this is actually never mentioned specifically in the Bible, but just through the traditional interpretations of the event, the songs we sing and the stories that we tell.
What is Christmas Really All About?
So what is Christmas really all about? What is it, when we strip away all the festive trinkets, the plastic, the tinsel, the piles of bills and the obligations? It’s about a baby born to die for the salvation of the human race (Matthew 1:21). It’s about an angel of the Lord appearing to proclaim this news to a group of shepherds, and then an entire heavenly host singing His praise (Luke 2:8-14). It’s about a certain undeterminable number of wise men led to the child simply by a star. (Matthew 2:9-11)
What is your star? What leads you this season to the Lord Jesus Christ? Is it the decorating of the Christmas tree? If yes, then do it. Is it the stringing up of the lights on the house in subzero temperatures? Then yes, go forth in that tradition. Is it inflating the “Olaf” lawn ornament that you know will bring a joyous cheer to the children and a warm smile from all the adults in the neighborhood as they drive past? Then, by all means, please continue to spread that wonderful joy.
This Christmas, let us do no more and no less than whatever allows us to reflect on the joy, love and peace that was already given to us through the birth of our Savior.
What are your favorite memories about Christmas time? Please feel free to contact us with any prayer requests!
Corinne March
Corinne March is wife to Stephen, who serves as the President for FBH International.
She is a stay-at-home mom, who spends most of her time homeschooling their three children.
She attends Scottlea Gospel Chapel in St. Catharines, ON, in the beautiful Niagara Peninsula, where Stephen also serves as an elder.
Check Out More of Corinne’s Posts:
How to Love Like Jesus – Loving the Unlovely
Wonderful Christmas – Wonderful God
More Podcasts:
More Blogs
Peace Through The Christ of Christmas
Images courtesy of:
Christmas Street – StockSnap
Christmas Tree – geralt
Child under tree – sobima
Christmas decoration – skeeze
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