‘Tis the Season to Reflect  (Devotional #4)

            This is the first Christmas season that I’m not running around “like a chicken without a head.”  I didn’t participate in my church’s adult choir Christmas presentation.  I have yet to write any Christmas cards and I probably won’t get to.  I’m not going to make a special Christmas crafty gift for the kids Sunday school class my husband and I teach.  It is the 12^th of December and I haven’t gone Christmas shopping yet, I do plan to get to it.  There was a children’s snow thing that my city put together that the kids showed interest in going to and I didn’t take them.

            Sounds like I’m not in the Christmas spirit?  Believe me I am. I just don’t desire to get so busy that I miss out on what this season is really about.  I’ve done that before.  I’ve gotten so busy with baking, singing in the church choir, shopping, wrapping gifts, visiting friends/family, cooking, cleaning, receiving guests, cleaning up after the guests, going to the kids Christmas pageants, shopping some more…it’s exhausting!!!
           My friends, is this your list this year?  Does this sound familiar?  Why is it that this season is such a busy one?  Is the reason of the season to be busy?  No, of course not.  The reason for the season is Jesus but with all of this activity the reason for this season seems to be tucked away somehow.  It’s usually not until Christmas Eve or Christmas Day that we even stop to realize that the reason we celebrate this holiday is to remember him. 

            “In the sixth month, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David.  The virgin’s name was Mary.  The angel went to her and said, “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you…You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus.  He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High…The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you.  So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God…nothing is impossible with God…
           In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world…And everyone went to his own town to register…So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David.  He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child.  While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son.  She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn…

            And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night.  An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified.  But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid.  I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.  Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you, he is Christ the Lord.  This will be a sign to you.  You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”

            Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests.”  …So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger…The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.”  Luke 1-2:20 (paraphrased from NIV)

            “After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem and asked, “Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews?  We saw his star in the east and have come to worship him.”  After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star they had seen in the east went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was.  When they saw the star, they were overjoyed. On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him.  Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold and of incense and of myrrh.”  Mathew 2:1-12 (paraphrased from NIV) 

            I shared the one and only true Christmas story with you because this is in fact the reason for the season.  The reason is to remember this event that changed the world forever.  So yes, I hung the tree and put up my traditional Christmas tiny houses.  I went to see the choir from my church present their Christmas program.  I plan to go and see some more Christmas lights with the kids and may catch a couple of other Christmas events in my city.  I plan to do some baking for my family too.  Oh and yes, I will get around to the Christmas shopping but I will not over do it this year.  I am soaking up the wonders of this season.  The beauty of remembering Christ’s gift to us was his birth.  The reason he came at all was to then die on the cross for us so that we may have Salvation and relationship with him. 

            So, my friends enjoy this wonderful season.  Enjoy your friends and family.  Revel in the love they have for you and share your love for them.  And most of all, remember the true reason for the season!