Can you believe it is almost Christmas? Where has the year gone?
For many the question is about more than where the past year has gone. It is about what happened to the past 20 years, the past 30 years or more. For me it seems like yesterday my children were just kids. Now they are adults with families of their own. The memories of the birth of my grandchildren are as clear as if they had just happened. Yet two of them are college students.
Do you know that feeling?
Sometimes people get so busy earning a living, taking care of responsibilities, preparing for retirement and all the rest that it seems as if we somehow missed life. We look in the mirror and ask what happened.
Is that true of Christmas, too? Have we missed Christmases in the past? Will we miss Christmas this year?
Many people strive to make Christmas a picture postcard moment. Decorations have to be just right, the tree gorgeously trimmed. Every present has to have a handmade bow no matter how much one’s hands hurt.
The Christmas dinner menu is carefully planned to include everyone’s favorite dish and the dessert has to be flawless. Occasionally hosts even write down questions to keep the dinner conversation flowing and avoid subjects that might be uncomfortable.
Christmas is a gift
But even if all the events go perfectly, one can still miss Christmas. Belatedly the realization dawns that Christmas is not something one can manage or create. Christmas is a gift that must be received.
Christmas is that moment of awe, of amazement, of wonder, of insight, of humility, of thankfulness, of acceptance.
Christmas is that moment of realization that God loved us so much that He sent His one and only Son to bring us back to Himself. While the world accentuates lights and tinsel, God’s gift of Christmas is seen in a newborn baby whom the angels declared “Christ the Lord” (Luke 2:11).
That gift is offered to all. It is not dependent on social status or economic standing, not on race, gender, ethnicity nor any of the other artificial walls society builds to divide. The gift is for all. The only requirement is acceptance. “Whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life,” Jesus said in John 3:16.
The first Christmas
Consider that first Christmas. The gift was announced to shepherds on a hillside caring for their flocks. Stargazers in a distant land saw evidence of the gift. Earlier God had spoken to Joseph and Mary. Joseph worked with his hands in an out-of-the-way village called Nazareth. He was a carpenter. Mary was a young woman just come of age to marry.
Earlier God had spoken to an older priest named Zechariah about the role his soon-to-be-conceived son would play as a forerunner of God’s Gift.
No high ranking government official heard of that first Christmas. No titan of commerce got the news. God spoke to common people who were willing to listen for the voice of God.
God ordered the Psalmist to “Be still and know that I am God” (Ps. 46:10). The word “still” used here means “to release or let go.” Trying to manage Christmas, like trying to manage life, can cause one to miss the thing one desires most.
“Be still,” God says. Let the soul listen for God. Receive the gift of Christmas. Ponder what God has done. Let God’s grace change your perspective. Let His love change your values. Let the Christ Child lead you back to fellowship with God.
In Luke 2 the writer describes the amazement, the King James Version says “wonder,” that filled all who were part of that first Christmas. Isn’t that what happens to us when we encounter God at Christmas? Perhaps God visits in the words of a carol sung by a children’s choir. Perhaps He comes in the words of Scripture which recount the Christmas story. Perhaps God comes through prayer.
A special moment
Personally, I like to sit in front of a manager scene made by my late first wife’s grandfather. I cannot sit there without reflecting on how God has blessed our family through the five generations which I have known. That is always a special moment.
Luke says the shepherds told everyone they saw about that first Christmas — about the chorus of angels, about the angel’s message of the Messiah, about finding the Baby in a manager. And more. The shepherds glorified God, offering Him praise and thanksgiving after seeing His Gift.
Meeting God in Christmas has a way of changing us. Realizing afresh the gift of God provided through Jesus has a way of softening the blows and healing the bruises life often inflicts. Meeting God in Christmas helps renew our zeal for the Lord and our commitment to loving God and loving others as God has loved us.
Meeting God flames the desire to be an instrument of His peace by reflecting God’s glory into all of life’s experiences. Loving God always includes loving others.
God is in control
But meeting God in Christmas does not happen because we plan it or because we carefully orchestrate every aspect of the celebration. None of us can control God.
Meeting God in Christmas happens when we accept God’s gift. When we are still; when our souls are listening for His voice.
This Christmas, “Be still and know that I am God,” as the Psalmist says. Receive God’s Gift anew. Do not be so busy with all the holiday hubbub that you miss Christmas.
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