The other night I lay awake thinking of all the things I had to do before Christmas. The worrying didn’t help, but I did it anyway.
You may be one of the many even-tempered, well-organized folks who complete their Christmas shopping in August, who decorate their homes with homemade ornaments in November, who bake and cook until every available space in freezer and cabinet is full of delectable goodies from Pinterest. Who never find themselves backed into a corner created by their own neglected duties. You may well be one of those.
On the other hand, you may be one of “the others,” people like me who never seem to get everything done, who forget to send birthday cards until the day before (why do people insist on having birthdays in December?), who make a hasty stop at the grocery store to buy mass-produced cookies, who mutter as they try to dress the house for Christmas. People like me who feel frustrated every December with all that waits to be done to comply with the status quo.
As I lay awake the other night, I thought of another individual who also must have lain awake those weeks before Christmas. She was very young, in the midst of an engagement grown difficult because of her unexplained pregnancy. Her family and friends, if there were any friends left, regarded her with accusatory glances. Her betrothed tried to understand, tried to walk in faith. And then, a final inconceivable obstacle: an unexpected journey. In those last weeks when she was tired and felt like a plodding camel, she and her fiancé had to travel a great distance to comply with the orders of the Department of Family Status to confirm their pedigrees. Add to this the fact that they were poor. No money for a wagon or even a cart. Just a bony donkey. No reservations to confirm a room at the end of the journey.
Yet this young woman endured all this because she believed it to be God’s will. She still suffered swollen ankles, possibly dread of what lay ahead, a hard labor in the corner of a warm but smelly barn with only her fiancé as midwife, and unanswered questions about her future. But God was there. In the midst of the chaos, squalor, pain and fear, He entrusted His only Son to that young, very possibly worried young woman we know as Mary.
I pray that as we prepare for this Christmas season, we will concentrate on people and God’s gift to us. Let’s not let those niggling duties interfere with the greatest gift ever given to our world: Jesus.
God bless, and have a very Merry Christmas!
You make a good point, Janice. As I read your post I got this wild image of Mary, pregnant, exhausted, trying to hang wreaths and garlands and big red bows to decorate the stable. Methinks I’m going to make a ‘Used To Do’ Christmas Prep list and then ask the Lord which ones I should keep doing. Time to wind down this frenetic period so I can take joy in it!
Oh, Bobbi, there’s wisdom in that plan. That should be an annual thing, weeding out the “used to do” things for the “do now” things.
Yes, Bobbi, if only we can remember this all month! Enjoy your Christmas season.
Janice, have you been reading my mind? Although I hadn’t thought as far as Mary’s stress. I went to the bustling Bethlehemites who had neither room nor time for the greatest gift.
The thought hit me in the middle of a sleepless night. A God-thought. A reminder to myself. Enjoy the season, Janet.
A great reminder that we forget the most important things in the rush to take care of the urgent matters. It has been nice not decorating at all this year (our house is for sale and our Realtor helped us stage it – sparse and impersonal). It hasn’t kept me from thinking about the real reason for this season: Jesus Christ.
All the best with the house sale. And enjoy the season.
Thank you. (with a smile) And a very merry Christmas to you and yours!
Thanks, Janet. I hope your Christmas is relatively stress-free.
Who has a birthday in December? Me, on Christmas Day! My mother had said to my dad “Hope the baby doesn’t come on Christmas.” Being stubborn I arrived beat red with eczema all over. No decorations or family fanfare, all alone in a new town. Birthdays lost. As a child I felt cheated, but today I’m blessed.
I believe you! My husband, two sisters-in-law, my mother and other family members celebrate birthdays in December. Our anniversary is on the 27th, and we have rarely celebrated it on the day.
Be blessed! You share a birthday with the Christ child.