I love Christmas.
I love coming home from college and seeing the house all decorated with tulle and twinkling lights and garland and Nativity sets. I love spending time with my parents, baking, listening to Bing Crosby, and watching the classic Christmas movies. I love how it’s such a peaceful, joyful time to strip life down to the bare essentials of faith and family.
But most of all, I love that it’s a time to celebrate the most wonderful gift that God has ever given us–the birth of His son, and the birth of our Savior.
I think it’s easy–especially for those of us that have heard the Christmas story time and time again–to lose sight of just how incredible the miracle of His birth is. But let’s never lose that childlike adoration for what happened in the manger that night, because it’s where our story begins. The only reason that we sinners are able to know our perfect God and the unfathomable, unconditional love that He has for every one of us is because Jesus paid the price to make it all possible. His birth represents the beginning of the most selfless act that ever was and will ever be.
Our pastor used a beautiful analogy to describe the significance of this all. He explained that he had once seen a Youtube video of someone filming a horrific car accident involving a motorcycle. The man who had been on the motorcycle was under the car, unconscious and unable to move. Several men were trying to lift the car enough to pull the man out, but they weren’t successful. Finally, another man runs up to help and is able to provide enough extra strength for the men to lift the car and pull the man out to safety.
The moral of the story? Life isn’t easy–God never said it would be–and sometimes the weight of all our burdens is enough to make us feel like we are being crushed. We do all we can to lift the burdens, but sometimes we become frustrated and feel like God is just somewhere far, far away, watching it all play out from behind a video camera but unable to effect change. But then we realize, He isn’t just watching this all play out. In fact, He sent someone–his own Son–to come help us wash away our burdens and sins so that we might be free again! Free to know His love for us and the hope that we can always place in Him. What an amazing Christmas gift!
Having that beautiful reminder of God’s ultimate act of love is my favorite part of Christmas.
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After that sermon, our church took communion and then closed the service by gathering in a big circle and passing candlelight to one another. We finished by all singing Silent Night acapella with our candles lit. Seeing the joy that everyone around me had in celebrating the birth of our Savior was such a touching experience, and definitely the highlight of my Christmas eve!
That night, my parents and I had our tradition of baking Jesus’ birthday cake (carrot cake this time!), read the Christmas story together, and then ended the night with It’s a Wonderful Life and White Christmas. I couldn’t have envisioned a better holiday. God is good!
I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas!
Favorite Bible verse of the week:
1 John 5:11 “And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.”
