It's the season when it's way too easy to go overboard--and justify it--as we tell ourselves we "just want Christmas to be perfect."
Or we want to be sure our children have lots of happy memories of Christmas.
What does that mean, exactly? Whose standard are we trying to live up to?
However we answer, a lot of us keep trying--and feeling we're failing. Or almost getting it "right." When we fall behind we get the guilts. Then we try even harder.
Here's the problem: Even if we succeed in every detail--outwardly--this frenzy of "doing" can steal away what matters most: The heart of Christmas. The wonder and the joy of remembering again that Jesus is the reason for this happy season, just as it was foretold centuries before:
Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel. Isaiah 7:14
If you're a fellow stumbler, here's some food for thought
It's my variation on a familiar theme:
If I decorate every corner of my home with glittery baubles, strings of lights and evergreen roping, but have no love, I am just another interior decorator.
If I stay up until 2 am making fudge and bake 15 different kinds of Christmas cookies, if I fix gourmet meals that make me proud and serve them on a table fitted with burning candles and special china, but snarl at my family, I am just another cook.
If I gather toys for tots and canned goods for food baskets, help decorate the Christmas tree at church and always drop in a few dollars when I pass a Salvation Army red kettle, even write checks to every charity, without love it profits me nothing.
If I insist on a living Christmas tree decorated with "natural" materials instead of baubles, if I sing with the choir and loudly proclaim, "Merry Christmas!" to one and all, but forget that Christmas is all about Jesus Christ, I am empty.
Love smiles at the child whose mom is wrapped up in her cell phone and stoops to wish a Merry Christmas to the lonely individual in a wheelchair or walker.
Love waits patiently while the next customer and the checker chat endlessly, then smiles at the clerk.
Love does not remind her husband that the guy down the street once again wins the annual "Best House on the Block" contest.
Love looks at the teenager wearing earphones and tattered jeans with eyes that take the long view, offers a smile instead of scorn and focuses on potential yet to unfold.
Love stops to listen and to hug, even when there's no time.
Love does not complain about what's missing, but thanks God for what is.
Love gives without expecting a return. Love endures through whatever comes.
As for styles, they will change. This year's trendy best-seller will be next year's white elephant. Human knowledge will be disputed, disproven and surpassed. Today's new discovery will become tomorrow's joke.
Only faith, hope and love remain. But the greatest gift of all is love.
Based (loosely) on 1 Corinthians, Chapter 13
Maybe as you read through that listing you decided you really don't know how to love. Here's a bit of comfort: Most of us miss the mark.
Let's take another look at what Christmas means
New beginnings. For anyone. No matter what kind of "stuff" lies in our past.
That is possible only because Love that goes way beyond all human understanding was born that long-ago night in that Bethlehem stable.
Take time to read aloud the Gospel of Luke, chapter two, and read it thoughtfully. Let its beautiful words flow over you and comfort your spirit.
Gather your loved ones and go to church together. Sing familiar--and new--Christmas songs guaranteed to lift your heart.
This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him.
1 John 4, verse 9
As for a Christmas decorating theme, turn to the one that never grows old: Love
Why not give yourself a gift? Let go of trying to measure up. (Feel your shoulders relaxing?)
Let go of whatever gets in the way of giving yourself to the people you love.
Take time to listen--and to lift someone else's heart by letting them know they matter to you. All it takes is a sentence or two, sharing a memory or an overdue thank-you to one who showed you kindness. (Wouldn't you treasure such a note even more than the most beautiful commercial Christmas card?)
These are the raw materials that go into laying down memories of happy Christmases. The people. The love. The laughter. Trust me, these will live on way into the future.
May your home and your heart be flooded and filled to overflowing with fresh new love. May you rest in the love of Jesus, born so long ago, yet with us today. Love that never fails.
How is this possible?
We love because he first loved us. 1 John 4:19
I can do all things through Christ, who strengthens me. Philippians 4:13
This is all we need to leave "frazzled" behind and be free!
Here's to merry getting ready to celebrate Christ-mas!
Growing still,
Lenore
