‘Tis the Season! For family, baked goods, tinsel, the scent of spruce, twinkling lights, the story of a babe, and gift giving. Wait. What? Hmmm. That doesn’t sound exactly right. Not to sound blasphemous but I’m calling “Bull!” on the whole thing this year. What gives, right? Nobody likes a buzzkill, I know. Maybe it’s that we’re in a new house this year and I never got around to unpacking my decorations. Maybe it’s because we’re so technologically advanced with Skype and whatnot that we celebrated a week early with the Grands. Maybe it’s that I’m desperately digging for something genuine to cling to. I put my biggest Little on a plane this past Saturday to spend a week (and change) with her dad. Right before grabbing the flight attendant’s hand to walk down the ramp she turned and hugged me with tear-filled eyes and said “Merry Christmas Mama. I love you.” Come on now!!! Who can walk away from that without at least a few pulled heartstrings?!?! We had our family of five’s “Christmas Morning” that same Saturday. Kids really don’t care. My Bestie suggested (so incredibly in awe of his reverence to Him) that we sing Happy Birthday to Jesus. So we did. Then the wheels started turning. Ready for this?
Christmas is NOT some calculated commercialized pomp and circumstance thing that is preempted every July. Christmas is NOT about having a Clark Griswold nuclear meltdown that puts Chernobyl to shame. Christmas is NOT about some ridiculous elf telling your kids to “Be good, Santa is watching.” Not saying it’s all bad, not saying I don’t like having my kids’ picture taken with the fat man every year, simply saying it’s ALL irrelevant.
Christmas is about reflecting on a life event. A Light event. It’s personal. Nothing about the birth of Christ is commercial. Mary didn’t get a complimentary bath robe, anti-slip socks, a year’s supply of diapers, a turkey sandwich at three in the morning with a low-fat peach yogurt and a bucket of crunchy ice. She was in a barn, with livestock, and feces… Cow poop, sheep poop, and (if you’re a mom, let’s keep it real) probably some of her own poop. NOTHING about that night of intense labor with a scared-stiff new daddy that most certainly had not gone through Lamaze classes can be romanticized. No matter how hard one might try.
Christmas is a simple word. Christ-mas. Christ was the Annointed one. Mas is a suffix and derivative of the word maesse, meaning festival, feast day, or mass.
So does this definition make my perspective wrong? I really don’t think so. I think a celebration and time of worship and prayer filled with thanksgiving is spot on. This transfiguration of my heart though has given me a real motivation to dig a little deeper into the Word.
Isaiah 49:6
6 He says, It is too light a thing that you should be My servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to restore the survivors [of the judgments] of Israel; I will also give you for a light to the nations, that My salvation may extend to the end of the earth.
Luke 1:74-75
74 To grant us that we, being delivered from the hand of our foes, might serve Him fearlessly
75 In holiness (divine consecration) and righteousness [in accordance with the everlasting principles of right] within His presence all the days of our lives.
John 1:9
9 There it was–the true Light [was then] coming into the world [the genuine, perfect, steadfast Light] that illuminates every person.
Christmas is a personal faith-based decision to believe. Accepting it and it’s truths is a direct reflection of Christ’s saving us from our own iniquities. The “Light” mentioned in John is His. It’s our choice whether or not we will accept the Truth. Christ died so that we might love and serve with Him as the Prize, fearlessly. That’s all I need. I’ve come too far to still be all that I was before He freed me from myself. He’s my Savior, my Love, my Father – I ain’t NEVER giving that up!
For each of us, may we be filled with reflection of the Anointed Celebration of His light this season. Be Merry!
In His Whisper 