It’s hard to find Jesus in Christmas.
His Name is right there in the very word. How can we miss it? I searched the Christmas aisles of the scrapbook store for a sticker of baby Jesus in the manger. I couldn’t find one.
I looked high and low for a book about the Advent, the Coming to read with my children and couldn’t find one at the Christian book store.
Christmas was created to be a birthday party for Jesus, but the guest of honor is forgotten.
It’s hard to find Jesus in Christmas.
But we need Christmas.
Creation and Christmas are intertwined.
Thousands of years before there was a stable, bewildered shepherd’s and a Holy birth, there was a serpent in the garden.
He deceived Eve–she deceived Adam–we were born into deception. And that’s when we needed Christmas.
When we see Jesus, we see Christmas. When we see Christmas, we need to see Jesus. And it’s there, when the Tree, and The Manger mingle, we find The Cross.
And that’s when we see others, our focus is sharpened and He shows us the need.
This year, a fewer number of gifts will be tucked under our tree. Instead, we are rejoicing in buying chickens and blankets for orphans.
I want change. I need it, just like I need Christmas.
*This post was inspired from a line in the children’s book One Wintry Night by Ruth Bell Graham. It’s a part of our family reading this Advent Season.
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I just discovered that book and am reading it with my 7 year old. When we recently went to see a play about the life of Jesus, he asked why they couldn’t have put the stories about Elijah and David in it. Love that he loves the Word, all of it.
I simply refuse to say “Happy Holidays”! It is, was, and will always be Christmas to me and my family. Thank you for posting this!
Me, too! – on all of this.
Thanks for posting this! So true. I also like to think of the birth of Christ as the most unsuspecting, covert act of war in history. A serious kick in the face to the evil one, but coming as a babe in a humble manger in a quiet night. Pretty awesome.
So true, that we have lost the focus of what Christmas should be all about.
Thanks for sharing and challenging.
Not to miss the point of the post–I get frustrated too–but wow–can you really find no stickers of the manger? Maybe they’re sold out? I’ll grant that they are far overwhelmed by cute strings of lights and jolly Santas, but they are there.
Beautiful post and I love the reading suggestion–thanks!