I just love this time of year. The lights, the celebrations, the dressing up in Christmas finery to attend plays and parties. I listen over-and-over to Christmas songs I’ve heard and sung a million times, spend too much, eat too much, and stay up way too late binge-watching Christmas movies, which we now have a healthy collection of in the Owan home.
In spite of the world’s sorry state, we can set aside the sometimes-drudging reality of our lives to live in wonder—the wonder of heaven tearing open the thin veil between Heaven and Earth, God’s spirit indwelling human flesh, the beginning-of-time prophesy being fulfilled, the hope and promise of prophesy yet to come, the real beginning of the march toward Easter sunrise three to four months later.
I don’t care if the dead of winter really wasn’t the Lord’s true birth date, or the Catholic Church borrowed the green winter solstice tree from the Druids and Celts and re-invented a celebration in order to appeal to the pagans to join the church. (Happy Winter Solstice Day, by the way.) I don’t even care that celebrating birthdays was a pagan tradition (who knows that kind of stuff now, anyway, except the Jehovah’s Witnesses, some Messianic groups, and trivia buffs?) and Christians didn’t want to celebrate it because of that. (The real practicing pagans believe that evil spirits lurk around during days of major changes, like the day you turn a year older.)
Jesus said, “I make all things new.” And this time of year, I’m going with that.
The genius author Charles Dickens managed to re-focus Christmas into a worldwide celebration, (if you haven’t seen the movie The Man Who Invented Christmas, you’re missing out!) where people set their hearts on others and try to bring joy into someone else’s life (and there are a lot of people who need some extra joy). Dickens shed light on the terrible plight of the poor (which he had experience in) and opened people’s hearts to look around them, to see beyond themselves, to lighten the burden of the downtrodden and disadvantaged.
To make people think about how God views our attitudes and behavior toward our fellow man. (Something that should stay with us all year.)
Of course, we have gotten carried away with the commercialism, but we can turn away from that and enjoy the holiday for what it is—a time to truly turn our hearts toward and honor and celebrate the birth of the man known as
- Immanuel (God With Us)
- Wonderful Counselor
- Almighty God
- Prince of Peace
In the back of my mind, I know January 2 is coming, when the festivities will end, I’ll need to reconcile my checkbook and finances, my monthly income will drop like a rock for half the year in order to satisfy the social security taxes due for 2019, and I’ll be back to living out the day-to-day, which isn’t always very exciting, or forgiving.
But today, and for the next several days and especially Monday night and Tuesday, all day, I’ll be celebrating. It’s a veritable peek into the wedding feast of Heaven I’ll enjoy some day.
I hope that’s what you’re celebrating too!
Until next time—quiet or boisterous—make it a very Merry Christmas!!
After all, if you are a follower of Jesus, you have MUCH to celebrate!
So Rejoice!!
Blessings,
Andrea
May you prosper in all things and be in health, just as your soul prospers (3 John 2).