Christmas Sucks

 Life is...Christmas Sucks

(I actually wrote this a few years ago, but felt 2020 was a good year to post it).

Christmas - What a wonderful, magical time as a child. What a difficult, stressful, sad time as an adult.

As I sit here on Christmas night pondering what a difficult Christmas season it has been & I realize...

We idolize Christmas (the nativity & Jesus' birth) but it must have been awful giving birth in a stable. And later having to flee to Egypt to avoid being killed.

What was it like the 1st Christmas?

"and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them." ~Luke 2:7

but what were Mary and Joseph thinking? 

"But Mary treasured up these things and pondered them in her heart." ~Luke 2:19

Maybe they were thinking...

-Is this really how God wanted His son to be born?

-Is this really the plan?

-I don't want to have a baby here!

But yet, under these circumstances, of a baby being born next to animals, the Salvation of the World came.

Don't let this small, well-known verse pass you by.

It is like God is telling us, even from the birth of His Son...

"I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world." ~John 16:33

If the things that aren't really Christmas start to interrupt your Joy of the birth of the Savior - let them pass by. For Jesus came into the harsh world as a defenseless baby - born into extreme circumstances to be The Light of the World!!!!!

So, even though the Christmas season is hard - all of us have our own story and difficulties - when you start to think "Christmas Sucks!" Remember that in fact 

CHRISTMAS SAVES!!!!

For it was on Christmas that the Child was born into the world - the Child that would redeem all mankind.

I Need Baby Jesus!

Life is...I Need Baby Jesus!

Since we started decorating and talking about Jesus being born at Christmas Rachel will not stop saying...
-I need Baby Jesus.
-I want to see Baby Jesus!
-Where is Baby Jesus?
-I can’t sleep without Baby Jesus.
-Here is Baby Jesus!

*She has been carrying around and sleeping with this little nativity. And showing it to all of us, all the time, so much so, that it is kind of annoying. She wants to read books about Baby Jesus, only watch shows about Baby Jesus.

+BUT what if I was a little more like Rachel? What if I couldn’t stop thinking and telling others about Jesus. What if I needed Him more?

‭‭Matthew‬ ‭18:1-6‬ ‭NIV‬‬  “At that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, “Who, then, is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” He called a little child to him, and placed the child among them. And he said: “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever takes the lowly position of this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. And whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me. “If anyone causes one of these little ones—those who believe in me—to stumble, it would be better for them to have a large millstone hung around their neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea.”

Peace

Life is...Peace

I walked into my grandpa’s room and immediately bawled. I tried to stop, knowing it wouldn’t help him, but this was not my grandpa. He was not the man who gave me rides in the nail bin at the hardware store where he worked, not the man who took us to Chicago to see the Cubs play, not the man who bid on a pinochle hand before picking up his cards...and mostly won the hand, to my dismay :) 

Though his body was still there, his spirit seemed absent.

It had only been a few months since I saw him, but the change was drastic. 

I attempted to talk about the weather, football, Christmas...nothing. Not knowing what to do, how to spend this one-on-one time with the grandpa I loved, knowing it was probably one of the last times I’d have, I held his hand and read the Christmas story - Matthew (minus the first 17 verses :)

An instant peace fell over us. His hands stopped shaking, the constant moaning ceased, and all was still. He even began to really hold my hand and truly be present. If I stopped for a drink the shaking and moaning returned, but as soon as I began reading it was an immediate change...a Christmas miracle.
Our time ended with Grandpa being able to tell me, “I love you!”

Though I want to remember my grandpa as he was before that day, I will always treasure the special moments we shared on our last Christmas Day together as I read about Jesus coming into the world to dwell among us and His promises.

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