Away in a Manger
It’s currently 0843 and I’m sitting in my cammo-jammie pants and sipping coffee I doctored with hot cocoa and peppermint extract in order to vaguely resemble a peppermint mocha.
I’m tired. I’ve taken to sleeping past my goal of 0630 after days that I work at the hospital and end up like this, avoiding real work for an hour or two. I’m sipping at my coffee and feeling little baby Mo kick and move and kind of wish I could just sit here all day doing just that; letting the aches in my back from work yesterday fade away and the soreness in my feet.
We’re in the middle of getting ready to move this week and our house, instead of being decorated with a Christmas tree and garland, is cluttered with boxes. The every day remains of family life that are left with no counter space to land on nor a temporary cardboard home are scattered on the floor.
I had to step over a plastic piece of broccoli and the remains of an imaginary dinner party that included tiny plastic dinnerware just to get to my chair.
Today will be a work-day for the kids and I. As soon as I can get off my tired, pregnant rump I’m going to walk the dogs, take a shower and commence in packing as much of our junk as I can into boxes and kicking the rest to the curb. Hopefully we will close tomorrow without issue and move in three days.
Until then, I’m sitting here, typing. There has been something on my mind I wanted to share.
On Sunday, in church, I couldn’t help but admire how the pulpit was decorated with beautiful poinsettias and sparkly wreaths studded in silver and bright red ornaments. They caught the light and dazzled.
In our foyer, at our church home, is a Christmas tree twice as tall as l am. As a matter of fact, our church had a little ladies’ get together to add some Christmas bling to our building and the results were very pretty.
On Facebook I see so many people posting their home decorations and trees and outdoor light displays. We live in a land and time of wealth and prosperity for the most part. A lot of my peers have time and resources to really do Christmas up big.
Putting up our decorations and pulling out sentimental ornaments brings us joy and often hope and peace when we look at them. So, I understand how Christmas has become such a big, commercial, moneymaking industry on the grand scale. I also understand why we, as individuals hang on this special season and why it’s a time of charity, giving, kindness and reflection.
I get it.
However, when I was sitting at church I began to mourn my loss of decorations this year.
My husband’s granddad made a stained glass nativity and every year I am proud to display it on the buffet I inherited from my grandmother. It’s suffered a little over the last few years. Little hands like to pick up and inspect tiny sheep, camels and wise men regardless of their delicate, soldered-together glass construction. I love admiring them, though. I love lighting tea light candles behind them and letting Mary and Joseph gaze upon the baby Jesus.
This year, the nativity sits safely in its bubble wrap inside a Sterilite container (hopefully) where I put in in the storage shed last year.
I have no idea where my tree is and only a vague recollection of where I put the stockings and other decorations. I was in a “purge and forget it” mind set. I was getting rid of things that were useless and didn’t matter and then cleaning and storing what I did care for. I can’t really recall where everything ended up landing.
Sitting at church I thought of the many movies and TV shows that imply that it simply cannot BE CHRISTMAS without a tree or adequate decorations.
I took home an important thought on Sunday.
Decorations and decorating help us to be a part of celebrating something special. They link us directly to a celebration and help us to remember what it is all about.
What they do not do, is MAKE any occasion something special. The do not, of their own nature, CREATE “special”.
I feel like in our instant gratification, commercialized society it is really hard for me to see that sometimes.
I can walk through Target and become convinced that I need to have a forty foot pre lit tree and a giant inflatable Santa for the front yard in order to have a happy holiday.
The birth of Christ is, standing alone, one of two of the most important celebration worthy events in our earth’s existence. The other being the death and resurrection of Christ.
We, as humans, want to take part in that celebration.
We did, even then.
The Wise Men came bearing worldly gifts worthy of a worldly King. The Shepherds came to see Him. This was and is a big deal! It had been prophesied for generation after generation and it had finally come!
It is our human nature to show the occasion respect and glory. That is often how we play our part in a celebration however, it does not create the thing worth celebrating.
The physical baby Jesus had a meager animal trough to sleep in. He and his parents were reduced to sleeping where the animals slept.
It was not a palace fit for a king. There weren’t eight thousand thread count Egyptian cotton baby sheets fitted for a mattress inlaid with gold. His swaddling clothes weren’t hand sewn by Greecian Artisans and gift wrapped in gold filigree. Those in the know, however, recognized this huge event that spoke, undeniably and infinitely for itself.
God sent His one and only Son to be born in a fragile human body in less than modest surroundings.
We can do all the hot cocoa drinking, best-Christmas-light-neighborhood-driving in the world. We can put up a tree in each room of our house. We can make a gingerbread structure to scale that resembles the Parthenon and tastes like heaven.
We can enjoy each other and reap the rewards that time together during these activities brings. We can gaze at the nativity scenes and reflect on the peace Jesus brings.
We can make our house look just-so and take pride and enjoyment in that.
What we must never do is see the birth of Christ for anything less than it is. He doesn’t need the healthiest, deepest red poinsettias. He doesn’t need fine crystal ornaments that catch the light or the “right” assortment of twinkly bulbs.
He is and was and always will be infinitely more than what we need or comprehend.
Some years you and I might not be as focused on the decorations or activities of the season. Some years we may be hurting or sad or distracted with the details of life. Some years we might be distracted with bigger things, although they are a blessing. Just because it’s December doesn’t mean that we are immune to the circumstantial nature of the world we live in.
You know what doesn’t change?
Year after year, day after day?
God is more. Jesus is more. His grace, might, power, knowledge, Love are all MORE THAN ENOUGH. He is sufficient and bigger than our traditions that have changed and evolved over the years of human and Christian existence.
Our traditions may change but our Heritage does not.
We may have gone from incense and myrrh to “snow” dusted Fraser fir trees with iPads wrapped up underneath them, but He and His importance and greatness have and will never change.
So, as I find my home a little less holiday cozy this year, it is a great comfort to remember that He was still born. We will still rejoice and things are no less special just because my tree isn’t up yet.
He loves us, lived among us, showed us the way in which to go, was crucified and rose from the dead. All for us.
THAT IS HUGE.
Deck the halls, light the lights. Celebrate and be joyful. Some years will bring happiness and in some we will struggle but we can always be joyful in Him. He makes all the things special and meaningful, far more than we ever could.
