And so this is Christmas...
The beginnings of the Christmas season fall upon us bright and beautiful, slowly at first and then bursting forth all around - similar to the snow that so often accompanies the season here in West Virginia. Twinkling lights, frosty landscapes, houses full of light, laughter and love, hustle and bustle, ribbons and bows, peppermint and cocoa, snowmen and stockings...Christmas time is hope. It is beauty. It is peace. It is joy. It is merry.
But it is also grief. It is angst. It is labor. It is exhaustion. It is cold. It is dark. It is lonely. It is war. It is long.
We each know of the widowed, left waking on Christmas morning in a silent house finding it hard to even breathe with their best friend gone. We know of parents who pull themselves out of bed and force a smile that hardly reaches their eyes to protect a house of other little ones all so desperately missing their sibling that sits around the table no longer. We know of the one who might not even make it out of bed they are so bone weary from the pain in the world.
There is grief here. Too heavy to bear. Suffocating.
Daryl and I have not so far faced such loss on a personal level. But we know and we ache for those that have and something about Christmas makes me think of them maybe even more.
This year just before Christmas when I was "supposed" to be hosting a holiday party, I instead was kneeling shivering on cold, hard tile with my arms draped over our toilet seat keenly aware that this too was Christmas. That very moment retching violently into a toilet was a bold faced reminder to me of the unimaginable - that God came here. And He more than came; He came as human and He came to take on all of my wretchedness as He hung on a bloody cross.
God made man. God with us.
"Why would you come?!" I whispered into the bowl. Why leave Your throne and settle in a womb full of messiness and be born in a stable covered in dirt and dung? Why would the King of all Kings, ruler of all, come to wash dirty feet, touch gaping, leprous wounds? Why would the all wise come to be mocked and ridiculed and unappreciated? Why would the perfect one come and take on not only our humanity, but our filth, our sin and our death?
Have we pondered Christmas's since like when the wise men may have been traveling to find precious Jesus? What must their trip that took years been like? What was Christmas like the year that Herod sent soldiers to kill all the baby boys that might have been Jesus in a jealous rage? I hadn't even though about it until I watched this. And how did Mary feel after the crucifixion each year when Jesus' birthday rolled around?
Have we pondered that Christmas, God become man, was purposed because God willed that Christ would die?
But thankfully not just so that He would die, but that He would rise, our king forever, offer life and light and liberty to all who believe. This is why the merry! This is why the angels proclaimed peace and joy to the shepherds that night.
There is a kingdom and it is coming. There is a day when all will be made right. What Jesus life has accomplished is why we have hope, beauty, peace, joy and merry at Christmas. It is not just because of what we have here this Christmas that we rejoice, but because of all that was promised on that day so long ago when Jesus cries first sounded in Mary's ears. And because like the long labor pains that pushed Jesus into the world, we to are being pushed more and more into His likeness - and that is joyful.
In Luke 10:20 the disciples are told to rejoice not that spirits are subject to them, but that there names are written in heaven. So let everyone who would believe that Jesus is Lord rejoice! Not that our "Christmas" is sparkly and cozy and clean and bright, but that God is with us, and He will be forever.
But it is also grief. It is angst. It is labor. It is exhaustion. It is cold. It is dark. It is lonely. It is war. It is long.
We each know of the widowed, left waking on Christmas morning in a silent house finding it hard to even breathe with their best friend gone. We know of parents who pull themselves out of bed and force a smile that hardly reaches their eyes to protect a house of other little ones all so desperately missing their sibling that sits around the table no longer. We know of the one who might not even make it out of bed they are so bone weary from the pain in the world.
There is grief here. Too heavy to bear. Suffocating.
Daryl and I have not so far faced such loss on a personal level. But we know and we ache for those that have and something about Christmas makes me think of them maybe even more.
This year just before Christmas when I was "supposed" to be hosting a holiday party, I instead was kneeling shivering on cold, hard tile with my arms draped over our toilet seat keenly aware that this too was Christmas. That very moment retching violently into a toilet was a bold faced reminder to me of the unimaginable - that God came here. And He more than came; He came as human and He came to take on all of my wretchedness as He hung on a bloody cross.
God made man. God with us.
"Why would you come?!" I whispered into the bowl. Why leave Your throne and settle in a womb full of messiness and be born in a stable covered in dirt and dung? Why would the King of all Kings, ruler of all, come to wash dirty feet, touch gaping, leprous wounds? Why would the all wise come to be mocked and ridiculed and unappreciated? Why would the perfect one come and take on not only our humanity, but our filth, our sin and our death?
"For the Son of Man came to seek and save the lost" (Luke 19:10).
"...the Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many" (Matthew 20:28).
"This saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost" (1 Timothy 1:15).
"I come that they may have life and have it abundantly" (John 10:10).
"...The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil" (1 John 3:8).Christmas now still reeks of death and dark and despair. It has since the very first one. Have we pondered Mary's trip on a donkey of all things all that way to Bethlehem belly full of the Son of God? Have we pondered weary Joseph who as a man must have so much wanted to protect and provide for his dear wife and this God child but could only come up with a stable? How many traveled for the census ordained so Jesus could be born where prophecy foretold? What was it like for them? I'm sure they were much more tired than I was from planning and baking and cleaning and wrapping.
Have we pondered Christmas's since like when the wise men may have been traveling to find precious Jesus? What must their trip that took years been like? What was Christmas like the year that Herod sent soldiers to kill all the baby boys that might have been Jesus in a jealous rage? I hadn't even though about it until I watched this. And how did Mary feel after the crucifixion each year when Jesus' birthday rolled around?
Have we pondered that Christmas, God become man, was purposed because God willed that Christ would die?
But thankfully not just so that He would die, but that He would rise, our king forever, offer life and light and liberty to all who believe. This is why the merry! This is why the angels proclaimed peace and joy to the shepherds that night.
There is a kingdom and it is coming. There is a day when all will be made right. What Jesus life has accomplished is why we have hope, beauty, peace, joy and merry at Christmas. It is not just because of what we have here this Christmas that we rejoice, but because of all that was promised on that day so long ago when Jesus cries first sounded in Mary's ears. And because like the long labor pains that pushed Jesus into the world, we to are being pushed more and more into His likeness - and that is joyful.
In Luke 10:20 the disciples are told to rejoice not that spirits are subject to them, but that there names are written in heaven. So let everyone who would believe that Jesus is Lord rejoice! Not that our "Christmas" is sparkly and cozy and clean and bright, but that God is with us, and He will be forever.
"For all the promises of God find their Yes in [Jesus]. That is why it is through him that we utter our Amen to God for his glory"
(2 Corinthians 1:20).
beautifully written Lauren.
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