We spend most of the year looking forward to the Christmas Season. We eagerly anticipate the joy and peace that it will bring. Then, from the first moment we can officially celebrate, we cram our days with every festive event we can squeeze in.
Our Decembers are spent trimming trees, baking cookies, watching movies, shopping for gifts, moving a mischievous elf around the house, searching for the tackiest sweater we can find and competing to see who has the ugliest, attending parties where we exchange gifts then steal from someone else if we don’t get the present we wanted.
We teach our children to make a list of everything they’d like to have and promise them if they’re good, they’ll get it all. We take sleigh rides and pray for snow.
In our more somber moments we warn others to remember the reason for the season. Then we talk about the importance of family and giving. We do everything in our power to recapture the innocence of childhood and the magic of Christmas.
But despite our best efforts, we’re left wanting. We tell ourselves if only we’d done more, if perhaps we’d gone bigger. We vow to do better next year.
But what if we’re going about this all wrong?
What if Christmas isn’t about childhood innocence, Christmas magic, or even family and giving? What if Christmas is about something more? What if we took our cues from the First Christmas?
God could have orchestrated an elaborate celebration held it in a magnificent venue with hordes of influential individuals. He could have provided every luxury for His Beloved Son and the chosen parents.
Instead, He opted for a simple affair. Mary and Joseph weren’t surrounded by family. They were alone, away from home, with few material goods to offer their Son. No one attended Mary during the birthing process. No one even knew when she gave birth.
It wasn’t until angels appeared to a bunch of shepherds out in the fields that anyone even knew what was happening. When the shepherds heard the good news, they went straight into town to see for themselves this Babe who was wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger. Then they couldn’t wait to spread the news of what they saw.
Eight days later, when Mary and Joseph took their Baby to the temple in Jerusalem, they met Simeon, an elderly man who’d been promised by God that he wouldn’t die until he saw the promised Messiah. When he saw Mary and Joseph enter the temple, Simeon took Baby Jesus in his arms and praised the Lord for the blessing bestowed on him.
Along came Anna, an elderly prophetess who served in the temple night and day, fasting and praying. She, too, burst into praise and told everyone who would listen about the Savior who’d come into the world.
Later, foreign dignitaries from the East traveled to meet the new King. They came bearing costly gifts with no expectation of receiving anything in return other than the joy of worshipping.
This Christmas may we take our cues from the Bible rather than Hollywood. May we allow ourselves the freedom to be old and wise rather than wishing we were young and innocent.
May we cease from chasing an illusion and instead seek a Savior. It’s pretty simple, actually. And if we keep our eyes on Him, we’ll never be disappointed.
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