Christmas. A time to spend with family. Eat Santa cookies. Drink hot cocoa by the fire.
Or teach English in the middle of a village in Cambodia. That’s what my Christmas will look like this year and I couldn’t be happier.
Sure I wouldn’t mind being at home snuggled up by the fire watching a Christmas Story with my family.
But this year I’m learning that Christmas isn’t about comfort.
I’ve always heard the phrase “’tis the reason for the season.” I understood it. I knew Christmas was more than presents and twinkly lights and hot cocoa. I understood that we celebrated because our savior was born and he’s the reason we even understood what it means to celebrate and experience joy.
But I think the Lord has given me an even deeper understanding this year.
Because as much as I knew He was the “reason for the season” and I was thankful for the chance to celebrate our savior, I still associated Christmas with comfort.
But actually Christmas is the exact opposite of comfort. Christmas is a reminder that we live in a fallen world. It’s a reminder that we needed Christ to come down and redeem us from our sin.
Honestly, I’m hoping that this time next year I’m surrounded by all my friends and family and we all drink cocoa and eat too many Santa cookies. But I’m also hoping that it looks differently than it did before.
I hope that each and everyone of us takes the time to sit in our discomfort of realizing we are unworthy of the grace rewarded to us by a gracious God. I pray that none of us takes for granted a holiday that shows us how perfect our Creator is for fulfilling a promise of redemption.
I hope Christmas is uncomfortable.
So as you sit and eat your Christmas cookies, remember to give thanks for a baby born on this day so that you may enjoy the comforts of our fallen and uncomfortable world.
