The Other Side of Christmas

Our nativities are beautiful.

Even when we briefly lament that there was "no room for them in the inn" and that Jesus had to be born in a stable, our nativities are clean, peaceful, idyllic. We imagine the animals keeping watch and the wonder as the shepherds come. We think of little woolly lambs.

But it probably wasn't clean. Because stables smell, we can assume it was smelly. Joseph was probably frantic trying to make a bed in the straw and figure out how he was going to deliver the baby when that was usually left to other women. There were probably bugs.

I don't share that to ruin all nativities for you. We can go back to those pristine images in a bit, but bear with me for a moment.

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Holiday Spirit

If you are gaga about Christmas, you might not want to read this. You've been warned. But then, if you are gaga about Christmas, you might have some words of wisdom for me.

I'm not big on Christmas. No, I don't think that makes me Scrooge. Actually, I'm fine with everyone else being all Christmas. Generally, I try not to tear it down. I listen to people who are all excited, but I generally try to refrain from commenting. (Yes, this is an exception!)

I just think that the holidays are hard for a lot of people:

• Maybe there is a loss associated with the holiday
• Maybe they are lonely
• Maybe it causes a lot of financial stress
• Maybe they work retail where the holiday spirit is really more like a feeding frenzy and you ask someone if they want to donate to the holiday book drive and you get snarled at. (Not that anything like that has ever happened to me!)
• Maybe people are far away from family
• Maybe 100% Christmas music (30 different renditions of Jingle Bells in one day) just grates.
• Maybe all the activity makes someone dizzy
• Maybe things get lost in the shuffle
• It could be any number of things
  

I wish I loved the holiday season. I really do. I'd love to be swept away by it. But then, I don't really get swept away by much.

I struggle with the holiday season, but I do love the meaning of it. I love the word Emmanuel, God with us. I learned once that literally it means that God pitched His tent among us. I love that idea. He made His home with us.

And I love that Jesus came in the dark of night. I love that His birth ended 400 years of relative silence from when the Old Testament ends and Jesus is born. I love that Jesus was born in a manger. Some of it is nostalgia from my horse riding days. I know that stables are smelly places, but there is a warmth there too. In terms of the big picture, a stable was a place where even shepherds could go unimpeded. Jesus came to the common man, not just the rich or the kings.

Mostly, I love what I imagine would have been a pause among all creation, when Jesus struggled into the world, and let out that first cry, and then was snuggled close. I love that Jesus knew comfort that way. I love that in the prodigal son, the father ran to hug his son. And though the cross was cruel, I love that Jesus chose to throw open his arms for all eternity because he wants to gather us close and never let go.

I struggle with the holidays for lots of reasons. But I love the meaning behind it. So, I'm praying that the peace of being held close to Jesus would prevail over the chaos and even the anxiety I am already beginning to feel.

Pass It On

This past Christmas I ventured into new territory in my gift giving. I love giving gifts, but sometimes it is really hard to know just the right gift for the right person. Yes, you can always give gift cards. I do that sometimes. But I prefer the gifts I give to have more thought behind it. Though at times, a gift card is the thing with a lot of thought behind it.

This past Christmas, I gave a friend's family two things -- 3 flocks of chickens and a child. That is to say, I gave a gift on their behalf sponsoring 2 flocks of starter chicks through Heifer International and money to Compassion International's unsponsored children's fund.

I've given to Compassion for awhile now, but this was my first involvement with Heifer. One of the things I liked about it was that once a family has received a gift, they are expected to give back by passing on some of the fruit of that gift to another family. I love the idea that the investment in those chicks will be passed on and on. Who knows, maybe some will end up in the hands of one of the children I sponsor through Compassion.

I don't know if you are a Survivor fan or not. But this week there will be a spotlight on the show about Heifer. I don't know how long it will be, but I think it is neat that Survivor is doing that. So, even if you don't normally watch, think about taking a peek on Thursday.

If you want to know more through info on the internet, click here.

Weather

There's a saying in Illinois, though I've heard it about other parts of the country as well, that if you don't like the weather just wait 10 minutes and it will change. Hmmpf. I'm not buying it or all of it. They forgot to say that if you don't like it that it might just get worse!

We have snow on the ground. Tonight we are suppose to get freezing rain. They are anticipating about an inch of ice on the ground in the morning. Hello. I can't skate. When I go to the skating rink, I'm lucky to make a couple laps while holding the wall.

Illinois does have seasons. On an intellectual side, that appeals to me. On a more rational side, I would love to skip winter. I was talking to a neighbor and she agreed that it seems like the last couple of years we've gotten more and more snow earlier and earlier.

The way it's headed, it could very well be a white Christmas. While it makes everything look clean and pristine for about 30 minutes, snow is highly over rated for those of us who are adults. If I have to have a white Christmas, I just wish it was a white, sandy beach type of Christmas!




PS. I should mention that I get claustrophobic when I think I can't get out and about even if I wouldn't normally be going out and about.

It's Beginning to Look A Lot Like Christmas

My warm, sun loving body is cringing at this moment. A coworker announced yesterday that Hobby Lobby has their Christmas stuff out. Another confirmed that JCPenny is putting out their fall stuff -- cold weather stuff.

Please, it is only July 31st. Can't we put off the thoughts of cold weather a bit longer? I know I live in central Illinois and it will come sooner rather than later, but it's July.

I remember when the Christmas season didn't come until the day after Thanksgiving. I'm not ready for cold weather. I'm not ready for the hustle and bustle of the season. I'm not ready for the flowers to go away or the snow to come. (Though, if you want to know, I think a snow blower would be at the top of my Christmas wish list. But, I haven't made that. Yet, I think it would be up there.) I'm just not ready for it all.

But it did remind me of a church musical I was in while in sixth grade. It was called, Christmas in July. The point was that Jesus needs to be celebrated all year round.

So, I may not be ready for all the trimmings, but it raises a good question. Am I ready for Jesus on a daily basis? His message, His presence, His power should not be constrained to December 25th. I should stand in awe that He would chose to come at all to this earth every day of the year -- including July 31st!

Think Spring -- Hope Chronicles 6

In 1989 I finished up my sophomore year of college. It was reasonably warm in southern Indiana. The first or second week in May, I headed north to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan to InterVarsity Christian Fellowship's Cedar Campus. We were suppose to arrive, on Saturday. But for a reason that escapes me, my sister and friend and I couldn't leave until Saturday evening. We drove 16 hours through the night and got there just in time for worship Sunday morning. We were tired and a little ragged from the trip.

As we were driving we had to turn the heat on. On the other side of the 5 mile Mackinac Bridge, we were greeted with the sign, "Think Spring." Though it was warm where we came from, it was still a bit chilly in the UP.

Flash forward. It's Dec. 29th in central Illinois. It's cold and grey out. All the Christmas festivities are done. People are coming out of their turkey comas to discover that life on the the other side of Christmas isn't much different than life before Christmas -- with the exception of the amount of debt they are carrying. That, of course, has grown. If they had to go to work this week, the week seemed to drag on and on and on even though if was a "short" work week.

I've found myself feeling a little glum. From the way people around me have been acting, I think they have felt that way as well. So, what do these two stories have to do with each other. More than you might think!

Let's start with the present day. It might be easy to drift off into hopelessness. We are in for 3-4 more months of cold and gray skies. There aren't really any major holidays to break up the monotony. (Okay, there are things like Lincoln's Birthday and Martin Luther King Day -- but it really depends on where you work if you get to have those things off. And then there is Valentine's Day -- the ultimate Hallmark Holiday. But enjoying that one depends on if you are with someone or not. So, my point stands. There aren't any major holidays for everyone coming up soon.)

Even though it was May that year of the all night trek to camp, spring was slow in coming to the UP. And if I recall it correctly, it was gray.

But I like the outlook of those "uppers." They knew that spring was coming and they were focused on it. It's amazing that the image of that sign has stuck with me for so many years. I think of it now as an image of hope.

So, what are you focused on just past Christmas? Has the reason for the season been abandoned? Are you dismayed, as I often am, by how far you have yet to go in your spiritual life?

As Christians Paul tells us that the "hope of glory" resides in us. He writes in Colossians 1:21-27:

"Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior. But now he has reconciled you by Christ's physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation— if you continue in your faith, established and firm, not moved from the hope held out in the gospel . . . . Now I rejoice in what was suffered for you, and I fill up in my flesh what is still lacking in regard to Christ's afflictions, for the sake of his body, which is the church. I have become its servant by the commission God gave me to present to you the word of God in its fullness— the mystery that has been kept hidden for ages and generations, but is now disclosed to the saints. To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. "

Christ in you - the hope of glory. How amazing is that? It is not yet fully manifested, but it is there deep inside you and me. Like bulbs planted in the fall that will not blossom until spring, so is God's hope in you. It is there. You have it already. It just may not be in full bloom yet. But it will be. Do not worry about that. When you are dismayed by how far you have to go or how long you have to wait, Think Spring. Think Jesus. That is where our hope lies.