The Picture of Christmas

Tonight is Christmas Eve and in the stillness before celebrating, I want to share the picture of Christmas and ponder the people of Christmas. I hope it will bless you. 

Christmas is often pictured as a family around a large table, enjoying a beautiful meal and then going into the living room where a resplendant Christmas tree sits in the corner, surrounded by presents. The family members each open many presents and there is love and laughter and joy. 

But that is not always reality! For some, there is no tree or few presents and the table is an ordinary meal but loved ones are together. For others, a single person sits alone to read the Christmas story and open a couple of presents, as tears slide down their face because a loved one is no longer with them. These are also pictures of Christmas. 

For the last four Christmases were not easy for me. With my mother, who had shared so many Christmases with me, gone to heaven, I felt a sadness and emptiness nothing really filled. But I did try to find a new way to celebrate. God provided so many blessings- a trip, sharing Christmas with a friend's family, seeing a Christmas light show and other things. And each Christmas I was blessed to have time to celebrate with the Lord of the holiday, finding Jesus in the quiet and seeking to focus on Him rather than what I didn't have. 

This year my brother's family are back in Houston and I went to the Christmas Eve service with them and will see them tomorrow. I feel so fortunate! But I still want to make sure to celebrate Jesus and in the stillness come to the manger. 

So this year in the stillness I am thinking about a couple of the characters in the Christmas story and pondering how they felt. Let's take a look!

Let us start with Mary. A teenager from a small town whose life changed miraculously one day when the angel said she was highly favored by God and would bear a son, the Savior. What did she think of all that? And then in her ninth month of the pregnancy she had to travel with Joseph to Bethlehem, where they found no room but a stable. If that wasn't bad enough, in that place her water broke, her labor pains started, and there was no mother and no midwife to help her. Only Joseph was with her, who I am sure knew nothing about delivering babies. What did she feel? Yet God was with her, so far from home, and in the stillness of that stable she gave birth to God's son. What a miracle! 

And who was there to announce the Savior's birth? The newspaper and TV stations? The heads of state? No one knew or seemed to care. But in heaven, angels were amazed and agitated, for the Son of God, so glorious in heaven, would be born as a baby, in a lowly stable, with no fanfare or acknowledgement.  When they could not contain their worship any longer, the angels came to the shepherds watching their flocks that night and told them the good news of the birth of the Savior. Were the shepherds the first people they saw or did the angels know these lowly workers would listen to the news and go worship? The shepherds, so fortunate to receive the news, were amazed and did find the Christ child. Their lives were changed forever by the news and the sight. 

So on this special holiday, whether you will be having a large family gathering or will be alone this holiday, know that God sent Jesus for you. And just like Mary and Joseph and the shepherds God will be with you and help you if you seek Him. And like the angels, let us spread the news that Christ, the Son of God, was born on Christmas to be our Savior. "Glory to God in the highest and on earth, peace, good will to men!"