Tag Archives: winter

Don’t Miss Christmas

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The Christmas rush is on! Many of you are still looking for the perfect gift, wrapping presents, baking your famous sugar cookies or packing the car for a long trip

Stop right where you are! Take a deep breath and travel back with me to a time when there was no hope and no celebration. I can’t imagine a world without Jesus and yet, many times I live my life as if He doesn’t even exist. A trial comes and I try to handle it on my own. Loneliness floods my heart and instead of reaching out to Him, I withdraw into the darkness.MH900399587

He then interrupts my life and fills each black corner with Light. His love flows over the pain like a soothing balm and once again, I experience the manger. Once again, He steps into the smelly, unlikely and very ordinary existence that is mine to change everything – everything!

Jesus could have come to us in many ways, but He chose to interrupt the very ordinary with the most extraordinary. He could have chosen to be born in a palace. After all, He was a King. Yet His life on earth began in a manger housed in what amounted to little more than a dirty, smelly barn. The simplicity of His birth is one of His most precious gifts to me, and one of my most profound life lessons.

Every year I am reminded of the very heart of Christmas — Emmanuel, God with us. God wants to be involved in the simple, ordinary happenings of daily life: where we go and what we do, the smile we give the harried stranger and the patience we exhibit in the crowd of impatient shoppers, the love that prompts the secret gift and the heart that constantly celebrates His birth through every sparkling light, every beautifully wrapped gift, each special meal, every card, phone call and visit.

Celebrate Him and His birth in everything you do. Have a birthday party for Jesus. Bake Him a huge cake and invite neighbors to join in the celebration. Adopt a family in need. Reach out to the lonely. Look for Him in the crowd. Emmanuel, God with us!

Prayer:  Father, today we celebrate the reality of Your presence in our lives. I celebrate Christ’s birth, His life, His death and His resurrection. And as we celebrate, Lord, help us be “God with skin on” to those in need around us. Open our eyes and let us see them as You see them! We love You. Happy Birthday, Jesus! In Jesus’s name, Amen.

Butterflies

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The other day a bright orange and black Monarch butterfly flew right across my path darting to and fro enjoying the geniality of the sun.  I had to pinch myself when I first noticed it.  The calendar read December and in the snowy Arctic wasteland where I’m originally from, no self-respecting Monarch would be there now.

Observing it for several minutes brought such joy.  Butterflies speak beauty to me. This majestic one reminded me of an abundant Creator, who lovingly sprinkled His creation with such fragile splendor – just for us to enjoy.

So far, I’ve suffered little homesickness; though to be honest, I do miss my friends and some very savory Chicago food. But as I more and more enjoy a southern winter, I’m left with a better understanding of what Jesus meant in the story of the little children.  Recorded in Luke, “People were also bringing babies to Jesus to have him touch them. When the disciples saw this, they rebuked them. But Jesus called the children to him and said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. I tell you the truth; anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.”

There is wonderment all around us!  Too often all we see with our eyes is too much work, too much Facebook and too much responsibility.  Seeking the beauty in our world sustains hope and joy.  Finding God in the little blessings makes resting our Herculean problems in the arms of the Master Problem Solver so much easier.

I want to receive the Kingdom of God like a little child – shrieking with delight with hopeful eyes sparkling.

But usually, I don’t.  My prayers are rushed, hurried.  There are times I don’t believe God can help.  Or that He chooses not to fix my concerns.  Too often all I bring to God is a pressured desperation to mend my life.  No praise, no thanksgiving, no joy.  Just God sandwiched between a thousand responsibilities until a little butterfly drowns out this crazy world for a few moments of hushed communion with its Creator.

When did I lose this sense of discovery and curiosity with God?  At what moment did I begin to see the world as just laptops, freeways and tasks?  Why can’t I depend on the Lord with child-like trust?

This winter, I pray I will come to the Father seeking childlike hope and joy. Won’t you join me?

The Chase versus the Gift

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Lately I’ve had a case of the Bah Humbugs.  Normally, I’m like a little kid excitedly waiting for Christmas, which just can’t come fast enough.

It isn’t my disappointment with the economy or any personal setback.  Most frustrating to me is the attitude of your average Christmas shopper.  First getting into any shopping center is risking your life as cars roar through the aisles looking for that perfect parking place.  NASCAR race drivers have nothing on these folks.  Then there is the inevitable pushing and shoving to get inside the store.  Once inside, the focus becomes completing the gift chase – with little thought as to whose toes are mangled by the shopping cart.  Where is the peace on earth in the middle of this mayhem?

No matter what the excuse is for this behavior, it starts to wear me down.  My stomach did flip flops while watching the evening news coverage of one man actually rejoicing over his purchase of a high definition television.  I honestly thought at one moment, he was going to kiss the darn thing. Are material things really that important?

This afternoon while I was listening to Christmas carols, I sadly remembered there was no room at the inn for Jesus. Is my inn open for Him? It struck me that the more hurried we become at finding the perfect Christmas gift – at making the perfect Christmas – the less room we have for the real gift of Christmas, the baby Jesus.  Even good things, like finding the right color scarf for your aunt, can drown out His voice.

Inadvertently, I can crowd out Jesus by my choices.  The more I say no to excess, the less cluttered my life is. A frenzied holiday schedule can push Jesus away or lose Him in the shuffle.  I need stillness and peace to hear Him.  I don’t want to send away Jesus because I was too busy shopping, decorating or baking.  I want Him close by me.  I want to make more room for Him.

This Christmas fully appreciate the life-changing gift that was freely given.  Christmas is more than blinking lights, colorful ornaments and parties with friends.  It’s about what happened in the manager on a cold winter’s nights.  God’s promises fulfilled by a precious infant.

And so I ask you – What is more important? The chase or the gift?