GIFTed
A voice is calling, "Clear the way for the Lord in the wilderness; Make smooth in the desert a highway for our God.
Isaiah 40:3
It's Christmas time again. It didn't strike me until this week that the holiday is so near, and yet I feel completely unprepared. Running from one thing to another, I feel like I barely prepare for one event before the next one is upon me! There are gifts to be purchased, outfits to be assembled, and cookies to be baked. Our decorations are half out of boxes decorating corners of our house. And in free moments we unwrap little pieces of Christmas memories to hang around the house. No matter how much I did to try and be ready before Thanksgiving even hit this year, I feel like I'm so far behind on everything. And as I get older I tend to remember this feeling that the holiday is rushed.
Only years ago, however, I recall Christmas taking forever to arrive. Days passed slower than the molasses in our cookies. Countdowns started as soon as the previous Christmas ended. We waited and waited anxiously. Advent calendars filled with tiny chocolates captured our attention as we counted over and over again the days we had left until the most magical day of the year. 25, 24, 23, 22, 21....still so many days to go! And we continued to wait!
There's a feeling of excitement that takes over the heart of every child as they anticipate Christmas. The twenty-five days are the same length every year. But when you're a kid, waiting for Santa to climb down your chimney, the days can't go by fast enough. So while I change the number on our class countdown with my four year olds and remove another link on the rings we have marking the days until Christmas is here, their mind are saying, "I can't wait" and "We still have 15 more days?", while my mind on the other hand is thinking, "What? That's it? I still have so much to do!"
It seems to me, that so many times kids have a way of teaching us life's most important lessons. So as we continued our Christmas countdown I considered why, perhaps, the wait for them was so great while for me it was flying by without much thought. Kids are simple. To them Christmas means that they will wake up one morning to a tree overflowing with presents from Santa Claus underneath it. Sure as teachers and parents, we slowly start to teach them the deeper meaning of the holiday. But at it's most basic state, that's what Christmas means to kids. They wait all year to wake up on Christmas morning to a pile of gifts they've been desiring all year long. They wait in anticipation of that one toy they've wanted so badly. They anxiously unwrap that Barbie house, or new skate board and they instantly know the treasure of what they have received.
For adults, Christmas has become overcrowded. We add new traditions. There are more gifts to buy. Holiday parties, Christmas exchanges, and letters to friends and family bog us down with huge lists of to dos. And in the midst of it all we lose sight of just what it is we should be anticipating. I certainly enjoy the opportunity to share love around the holidays, but so many times I feel like the pressure to just give, and do, and complete everything has cluttered the true meaning of Christmas. Would we not be waking up with the same beautiful gift on Christmas morning, if we didn't make it to every holiday party or if we didn't get all the decorations up? Would we be receiving less of a gift if no presents were wrapped under the tree?
The truth is, our gift would be the same. Presents serve merely as reminders of the gift we have been so graciously given in Jesus Christ our savior. That gift is why we wait for Christmas in anticipation. That gift is the one we should be counting down to and the one we should wake up with joy to receive on Christmas morning.
Christ sent His son to save the world. Do you realize that is the best gift any of us could receive? Bows and tissue, glitter and sweets all fill up our days until Christmas, but if we really stopped and took all those things away, we'd be left in awe of the true gift of Christmas.
Kids have a way of anxiously waiting for the perfect gift under the tree. All their focus remains on that one magical thing that has captured their heart. Don't be too busy this time of year, to stop and realize the gift you too will soon be receiving. Drop everything for a second and wait like a kid. Let yourself realize that the gift of Christ coming into your life once again cannot arrive soon enough!
Isaiah 40:3
It's Christmas time again. It didn't strike me until this week that the holiday is so near, and yet I feel completely unprepared. Running from one thing to another, I feel like I barely prepare for one event before the next one is upon me! There are gifts to be purchased, outfits to be assembled, and cookies to be baked. Our decorations are half out of boxes decorating corners of our house. And in free moments we unwrap little pieces of Christmas memories to hang around the house. No matter how much I did to try and be ready before Thanksgiving even hit this year, I feel like I'm so far behind on everything. And as I get older I tend to remember this feeling that the holiday is rushed.
Only years ago, however, I recall Christmas taking forever to arrive. Days passed slower than the molasses in our cookies. Countdowns started as soon as the previous Christmas ended. We waited and waited anxiously. Advent calendars filled with tiny chocolates captured our attention as we counted over and over again the days we had left until the most magical day of the year. 25, 24, 23, 22, 21....still so many days to go! And we continued to wait!
There's a feeling of excitement that takes over the heart of every child as they anticipate Christmas. The twenty-five days are the same length every year. But when you're a kid, waiting for Santa to climb down your chimney, the days can't go by fast enough. So while I change the number on our class countdown with my four year olds and remove another link on the rings we have marking the days until Christmas is here, their mind are saying, "I can't wait" and "We still have 15 more days?", while my mind on the other hand is thinking, "What? That's it? I still have so much to do!"
It seems to me, that so many times kids have a way of teaching us life's most important lessons. So as we continued our Christmas countdown I considered why, perhaps, the wait for them was so great while for me it was flying by without much thought. Kids are simple. To them Christmas means that they will wake up one morning to a tree overflowing with presents from Santa Claus underneath it. Sure as teachers and parents, we slowly start to teach them the deeper meaning of the holiday. But at it's most basic state, that's what Christmas means to kids. They wait all year to wake up on Christmas morning to a pile of gifts they've been desiring all year long. They wait in anticipation of that one toy they've wanted so badly. They anxiously unwrap that Barbie house, or new skate board and they instantly know the treasure of what they have received.
For adults, Christmas has become overcrowded. We add new traditions. There are more gifts to buy. Holiday parties, Christmas exchanges, and letters to friends and family bog us down with huge lists of to dos. And in the midst of it all we lose sight of just what it is we should be anticipating. I certainly enjoy the opportunity to share love around the holidays, but so many times I feel like the pressure to just give, and do, and complete everything has cluttered the true meaning of Christmas. Would we not be waking up with the same beautiful gift on Christmas morning, if we didn't make it to every holiday party or if we didn't get all the decorations up? Would we be receiving less of a gift if no presents were wrapped under the tree?
The truth is, our gift would be the same. Presents serve merely as reminders of the gift we have been so graciously given in Jesus Christ our savior. That gift is why we wait for Christmas in anticipation. That gift is the one we should be counting down to and the one we should wake up with joy to receive on Christmas morning.
Christ sent His son to save the world. Do you realize that is the best gift any of us could receive? Bows and tissue, glitter and sweets all fill up our days until Christmas, but if we really stopped and took all those things away, we'd be left in awe of the true gift of Christmas.
Kids have a way of anxiously waiting for the perfect gift under the tree. All their focus remains on that one magical thing that has captured their heart. Don't be too busy this time of year, to stop and realize the gift you too will soon be receiving. Drop everything for a second and wait like a kid. Let yourself realize that the gift of Christ coming into your life once again cannot arrive soon enough!
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