Re-Learning Christmas

It's that time of year when many of us find ourselves in and out, and in and out again, of many stores, searching for parking spots and wondering, when will this be done?! A season of giving. And yet sometimes I need to stop, take a deep breath and remember why it is that we give. That it is better to give than receive. 

A couple years into marriage, Nate and I stopped, took a deep breath and seriously evaluated the way that we treat Christmas.  Are we getting too wrapped up in all the wrapping and bows? Too taken in by finding just the right gifts, those chart topping, great gifts? What we found when we stopped and took an honest look at ourselves is that we were forgetting one very important thing.

 

We were forgetting the most perfect and greatest of gifts that was already given.

The joy that inspired a tradition of remembrance through giving. 

 

We forgot to remember.  And so, we made the decision to change HOW we give. We chose to remember WHY we give. For our family and friends it meant that gifts from us were different (and we hoped that they would appreciate our personal touch).

We don't make gifts the way we did during those years. And this year, if you saw the items wrapped and sitting by our tree, you might not know how I am different now in comparison to seven or eight years ago. But there is a fundamental difference now in how my heart approaches Christmas and all it's twinkle.  Those few years taught me deep in my soul that we celebrate because of this...

For God so loved the world that he GAVE his child.

We celebrate and remember that we have already been given God's greatest gift.

That's all good and sounds great, right?  Yeah, I thought so too. I thought during those years that we chose to do Christmas differently that I learned to really appreciate more deeply and receive more graciously. While all that is true and it did change me (us), what I didn't know was what I had yet to learn. 

And then God turned our world upside down. One year ago we moved through the joy of Christmas with a twinge of pain and grief.  The little girl we hoped to adopt did not end up coming home with us.  Just days before Christmas we left a hospital with an empty car seat sitting behind us as we drove home. While we celebrated the beauty of a mother choosing to provide, for us those days were bittersweet.

But this year we do not mourn. We do not grieve or try to let go of pain. This year we celebrate. This year we grasp the FULL, joyous truth of what it means to have hope fulfilled. To CELEBRATE CHRISTMAS! 

For unto us a child is born. Unto us a child is GIVEN! 

 

This Christmas we experience the gift of a child.

This is not a child that we bore from our own bodies. She came in her own perfect timing, in a way that we did not plan and from a place that we did not expect. 

Someone else's child, given and entrusted to us. 

This year I learn, sometimes it is actually better to receive than give.