Category Archives: Christmas

Togetherness

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There’s something about shopping for a Christmas tree that appeals to all ages, and today two cars-full of family headed for the local market to choose just the right one. Our goal was “less than 8 feet and under $50,” and thanks to Klaus’ magic coupon, we came in under budget.

Young children have a unique take on family traditions. The netting of the tree for car-top travel was as much fun for them as choosing which tree to take home. So was the sawing off of its end, the trimming away of bottom branches, and the filling of the tree stand via glasses full of water.

But as much fun as they have, whether hanging ornaments or sweeping up pine needles, I think beneath it all what they really love is the togetherness that comes along with the traditions. Children have a sense of who belongs to their inner circle, and their natural yearning for family seems to be deeply satisfied when the group comes together, whether it’s for work, play, a meal, a conversation, or setting up a Christmas tree.

Maybe that’s true for adults, too, but what happens when we aren’t living near those we love or don’t have successful family relationships? Are we doomed to loneliness and dissatisfaction, especially at the holidays?

Just when it starts to look that way, God steps forward with an offer. Through Scripture verses he says,

“Would you like to spend the holidays with me? I sure do want to be with you, to strengthen you through troubles and be an overall help to you. You can tell me anything you want, pouring out all the details, and I’ll listen intently with love. Lay out your disappointments and frustrations, and we’ll sort through them together.

I want to be like both a father and mother to you, like a sister and brother. I want to be the head of your family. If you don’t have an earthly home, I’ll find one for you, and as we fellowship there together, you can get as familiar as you want with me. The closer the better, in my opinion. And by the way, my loving responses to your yearnings will be perfectly suited to each need.

I hope that as you take advantage of what I’m offering, that you won’t be sad, but if you are, I want to carry your sorrows for you. Eventually I hope you’ll invite me into your head to lead your thinking by my Spirit, since I’d like to take you to an emotional place of peace. And if you invite me into your heart, I will preserve your soul. You are my very own family, and I want to be close to you, not just on holidays but every single day.”

Each of these promises is taken directly from the Bible, and as you enjoy taking God up on his offer, how about doing it in the warm glow of a Christmas tree?

 “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.” (John 14:18)

 

A Unique Teaching Method

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Christmas is 20 days away, coaxing us to think again about the baby of Bethlehem. How did the Trinity decide together on such an outlandish scheme to bring salvation to mankind? Divinity reduced to a newborn? And even more incredible, reduced to a single cell within the human body of a regular woman?

But that became the plan for one important reason: Jesus wanted to do everything we did, to be tempted like us, struggle like us, feel like us, and live with our limitations. Amazingly, he wanted to be just like us.

But why?

One reason was to teach us what a well-lived human life should look like. Another, and of course the most important reason, was to save our souls, a rationale we still can’t understand but enormously appreciate.

I love thinking about Jesus as an infant, then a toddler and a little child. Surely he had an ordinary childhood relationship with his mother, and she did for him all the things we moms did/do for our children. Then as he grew, he lived a model life in front of relatives, friends, and neighbors. Through Scripture’s pages, he became our model, too.

But when did his teaching begin? Was it at age 30 at the start of his ministry? Or well before that? Is it possible his choice to become a born-baby was meant to teach us something, too?

My mom loved kids, preferring their company to that of adults. I think one of the reasons was her ongoing expectation that they could teach her something, even the newborns. She watched them closely, sometimes talking to them as if they were the Lord’s emissaries of wisdom.

“Tell me about God,” she’d say, focusing on the squinty eyes of a newborn who was still a year away from answering with words. But words or not, Mom expected to learn. And she absolutely loved the idea that our Savior was born a baby “in the usual way.” He didn’t arrive to save us dressed in the armor of a warrior. He didn’t inherit a throne through royalty. He didn’t conquer with guns or swords. Instead he entered the scene unremarkably… just by being born.

Mom used to tell us, “When you recite John 3:16, think about the word ‘begotten.’ God gave us his ‘only begotten Son.’ It means ‘born of parents,’ and Jesus was born just like you, helpless, dependent, needy.”

In the ordinariness of his infancy, she wanted us to learn something. She hoped we’d see that our Savior was approachable in his humanity rather than intimidating in his divinity. Years later we would learn the difference between him and us, of his sinlessness and our sin. But as children, she wanted us to relate to, and learn from, our common infancies.

Because Jesus willingly came in that humble way, we love him all the more.

“God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” (John 3:16)

Just an Ounce

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Benjamin Franklin is credited with the maxim, “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” Wanting to follow this logic, yesterday I went to Walgreens and got a flu shot.

I grew up in a home where both parents believed a little illness gave the body a chance to exercise its disease-fighting mechanism, and conquering the flu was evidence all systems were working. We weren’t taken to a doctor unless we needed stitches or surgery, and if we had a fever, we weren’t encouraged to take aspirin. “A fever is just your body letting the sickness out,” Mom would say.

That philosophy is probably why I figured flu shots were only for those who loved medicine and doctors offices. I’d been sick so few times I couldn’t even remember having a cold. That is, until Christmas, 2010.

Our whole family was scheduled to come to Michigan from Florida, England, Hawaii, Iowa, and Chicago. Christmas of 2009 had been sad and somber, since we were still reeling over Nate’s death a few weeks earlier. When I look at the family photo taken a year later in 2010, I see a group that had survived the worst part of grieving. But I also see a whole bunch of people who had just finished enduring something else: two holiday weeks of shared diseases.

The Christmas season we’d hoped would be joyful included fevers, vomiting, diarrhea, headaches, and lots of crankiness. Not one of us had escaped. And several days after that picture, as I stood on the front porch waving off the last of them, I made a decision to join the ranks of flu shot consumers.

An ounce of prevention is always better than mopping up afterwards, but of course this principle doesn’t just apply to diseases. If we fudge on our income taxes, for example, the end result is a fine many times greater than the original tax bill. If we tell one lie, we might have to tell 15 more to support that first one. On paper we know these things. Applying them is something else.

And what about spiritual ounces of prevention? How do we prevent ourselves from, for instance, falling into temptation? An ounce of that kind of prevention might mean finding an accountability partner. It might mean making sure the things that tempt us have been cleaned out of our homes. Maybe it’s appropriate Scriptures written on cards, or a list of 3 practical steps to take during times of weakness.

Hebrews 11 tells us that many of the Old Testament saints “were made strong out of weakness.” (v. 34) And how did that happen? God strengthened their faith, one preventative ounce at a time. He’s the same God today, offering the same ounces to any of us who are willing to work at preventing sin.

I guess compared to that, getting a flu shot is a piece of Christmas cake. Ben Franklin, my sore shoulder thanks you.

“Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.” (Matthew 26:41)