AN EASY CHRISTMAS
November 28, 2011
Isaiah 64:1-4: Oh that You would rend the heavens and come down .... (Isaiah 64:1a)
I miss my childhood Christmases. I miss watching dad climb the ladder to hang the lights on our house. I miss Mom sitting in front of a huge stack of Christmas cards. I miss the sound of the mixer, and the sweet smell of the cookies my parents were baking in the kitchen. I miss running down the stairs Christmas morning and seeing all those presents wrapped under the tree and waiting for me.
Hmm, maybe the thing I miss most about my childhood Christmases was the fact that I didn't have to do anything to get ready for Christmas! Now my wife and I are the ones climbing the ladder, decorating the house, mailing the cards, baking the cookies, braving the crammed parking lots and stores. Maybe the joy of Christmas got lost somewhere in all the work we have to do to get ready for it.
But wouldn't it be nice to go back and enjoy Christmas once more the way we did when we were kids? It's really possible, you know! I don't mean getting someone else to decorate, bake, shop and wrap for you. I mean stopping from time to time to sit back and let someone else prepare Christmas for you-or should I say, let someone else prepare you for Christmas.
That's really what the first Christmas was all about. God opened the heavens and sent His own Son down to us-a human baby lying in a manger. That baby would share our life of sorrow, pressure and toil, and lay down His life to set us free. He did all the hard work. We only need to sit back and receive His gifts this Christmas: joy, peace and hope.
PRAYER: Son of Mary, come to us today and help us rest as You prepare us for a joyful celebration of Your birth this Christmas. Amen.
From LHM Advent Devotional
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