For months, we have seen the evidence that Santa is on his way. Our mailboxes and emails have been filled with ads about the newest and greatest things we can buy our loved ones. Radio stations have non-stop (well, almost!) Christmas music and houses have begun to light up with colorful lights.
The busyness of Christmas adds another layer to our already stretched schedules and if you are like me, you begin to make countless lists of things you want to buy or things you need to get done. Countdown to Christmas begins to take second place to countdown to our life AFTER Christmas, with more rest, less pressure and things back to “normal”, whatever that may mean.
This past weekend, our church had its four Christmas concerts with 80-voice choir and full orchestra. It is always a blessing to invite the community as well as our own church family to a celebration of Jesus’ birth. These concerts put this celebration into perspective for me as we dwell on the sweetness of Jesus’ birth in the manger, the joyfulness of the angels declaring that blessed birth and the gifts we bring him…our lives and devotion.
I have a vividly creative mind, and as we were singing, I was thinking about what it would have been like to actually walk toward the manger on the night of my Lord’s birth. The quiet of the night, the stars twinkling in the sky, the glow of the lanterns from the windows of the stable, the smell of the hay and animals, the low voices of Mary and Joseph, and then…..the cries of the Lord Jesus Christ coming from the arms of his mother. Can you just picture this event? It just brings tears to my eyes!
Take some time during this Christmas season to “walk toward the manger”. What does His birth mean to you? Have you given Him the gift of your life and devotion? “Silent night, holy night, all is calm, all is bright….”