Merry Christmas!
Time flies, because I didn't realize it had been a month since I had last blogged. I thought today seemed like a good day to head online, because unlike most people, I don't have a lot to do today. My husband works a lot of holidays, so they are usually relaxing and rather uneventful. For a homebody introvert like me, that is just fine.
But yesterday we did get to celebrate. We spent some time with friends whose family is like our second family away from home, for which are so thankful. Then I went to the Christmas Eve service at our church, which was so wonderful and refreshing.
I have to admit that this time of year, even as an adult, Christmas begins with thoughts of getting gifts. We were done Christmas shopping really early to get gifts to our families since we weren't going to be them over the holiday, but it still began with "What am I going to get everyone?"
So much of our holiday revolves around what we're getting. The tree doesn't look right until it has gifts underneath it. The kids aren't satisfied unless they get the right toy.
Gift giving is fun, and if we place it in context as a reminder for the greatest gift ever received --- Jesus --- then we're doing alright.
But I had a thought yesterday at church. The pastor was talking about how Jesus was revealed to the wise men, who were from afar, and God wants to draw people even that are far away. He said Jesus was revealed to the shepherds, who were the most lowly in society, because Jesus calls even the most lowly.
Jesus' identity was also revealed to his parents, Mary and Joseph. Think of how society looked on them --- they were an unmarried couple, pregnant, and so looked down upon that no one would even give up their room to a nine-month pregnant woman.
In today's society, the pregnant woman is given a good parking spot, a good seat, and people want to help make her comfortable.
Unless she is a member of the lowest part of society and looked down upon. Then people avert their eyes. And that's what Mary had to deal with.
Can you imagine her embarrassment about how people looked at her for nine months? She knew she didn't do wrong and had an amazing gift, but it still would have been so hard to have people laugh, snicker and shake their heads when they thought she wasn't looking ---- or maybe even to her face.
Then imagine her embarrassment when she couldn't even have her baby in a room. She knew she was carrying God's son, and yet she couldn't even find somewhere to have him. She had to have him in a stable and put him in a feed trough. Manger sounds so sweet today, but it was a feed trough.
If I knew that I had the responsibility of carrying and raising God's son and couldn't put him anywhere but a feed trough, I would be so ashamed. I would be embarrassed. I would probably even be angry that God couldn't give us a better place to be.
It must have been so hard at that moment, but when we look back, we see the nativity as a beautiful story that began that night. It is a story of God's son coming to earth, living a sinless life and then taking on our sin to die for us and rise again to defeat Satan and death for those who accept his gift.
So whatever you're going through right now --- it may seem extremely hard, embarrassing or like God shouldn't be putting you through it. But God works in ways that we can't understand, and it may be thousands of years before his purpose is revealed.
When you look at the nativity, think beyond the pretty star and the sweet baby. There was so much going on. And it was the start of even more.
Merry Christmas all.
And thank you Lord for coming.
