So here it is Christmas, I mean holiday time! This morning I was listening to a presidential nominee and as usual I tend to tune them out. The same was the case this morning except I heard him exclaim, "I am so tired of everyone trying to hide behind the word Holiday, it is Christmas time, we celebrate Christmas time! Even the federal government is taking off for the christmas break!"
Well of course this got my attention and immediately I began to think about how even in my own life I have slowly began to say, "have a happy holiday!" What is this? Have we really reached this point of supersensitivity?
I recently had a friend come by and instead of saying Happy Holiday I broke with the norm and said MERRY CHRISTMAS!! I am not sure if the friend was going to have a heart attack but this friend stepped back and said, "happy holiday" and quickly left. Ooops my bad... Hope that friend is not going to fall over.
In another example I had a vendor call me recently and in the process of talking about our plans for this Holiday year, he suddenly stopped and whispered, "if it is okay I would like to wish you a merry christmas!" I whispered quietly back, "its okay I am sure the government is now marking us down as some sort of crazy people! Merry Christmas!" I shouted.
I think back on my childhood memories of Christmas and how sacred that time was. I can remember all the christmas cantanas and candlelight services and how Santa always seemed to allude my younger brother. Now I look to this Christmas time and I realize how much stress and constant running around we do to buy christmas gifts, put up a tree, sign christmas cards, get the cars checked for the journey home, fight crowds in shopping lines, argue about who gets what and whom we are going to stay with, and I realize that is not what the christmas time is about. We have lost the simplicity of it all!
Christmas time is not a time of giving! It is a time of reflecting! A time when we realize that God's plan for man was fulfilled in the most simple way ever! A gift? No a savior who one day would pay a high price that would allow us to one day buy christmas gifts, put up a tree, sign christmas cards, get the cars checked for the journey home, fight crowds in shopping lines, argue about who gets what and whom we are going to stay with.
It is not about that huge gift that is given or who came and who didnt get a christmas card, It is a time of love. I think of the song Glorious Impossible by the Gaither Vocal Band, yeah it is true I do listen to Souther Gospel every now and then, but I think about how the song talks about Mary holding an impossible yet possible baby. How simple a little one could save us all.
So this christmas time, it is not about the gifts, people or family, it is about the wonder of how a little baby could so love the world that who so ever believed in him would be saved! Take the time now to think on the simplicity of that, Oh and HAVE A MERRY CHRISTMAS!!! and a very BLESSED NEW YEAR!
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