The Reality of Christmas. Think about it.

There'll be parties for hosting, marshmallows for toasting, and carolers out in the snow. There'll be scary ghost stories, and tales of the glories of Christmases long, long ago. It's the most wonderful time of the year!

Ahhh! The Christmas season--I love it! I love the decorations, the sights, the smells, the music. I love it all. I truly think it is the most wonderful time of the year! When I was a kid, people used to tell me that I would "grow out" of Christmas and that the older I got, the less exciting the season would be for me. "Just wait until you're older when you have to drive in the snow and fight crowds to buy Christmas presents! Just wait until you have to frantically rush around at last minute to finish Christmas baking, wrapping presents, and cleaning the house for company! You won't think Christmas is so exciting then!"

All I have to say to those people is bah, humbug! I LOVE the busyness of the season! I love baking! I love finding just the right presents for my friends and family.  I love wrapping presents! And I'm pretty good at it, if I do say so myself. (It's my gift.) I love watching the shoppers pass by with their treasures! (I've always enjoyed people-watching.) I love going to Christmas programs. I love the music of the season. I love the lights. As I said, I love it all!

Maybe you're like me, and you love the Christmas season, too. Unfortunately, it's far too easy to get caught up in all the sights and smells and sounds of Christmas and forget the reality of Christmas. Oh, sure, we all appreciate the signs and decorations and Christmas cards that remind us, "Jesus is the reason for the season!"  However, how often do we stop and contemplate that statement? How often do we let the reality of Christmas really sink in and affect our outlook on the Christmas season? No Christian would deny that Jesus is the reason we celebrate Christmas, but are we inadvertently leaving Him out of our celebrations because we get too caught up in all the wonderful festivities that surround us at this time of year?

Don't worry. I don't believe at all that we should give up all the things we enjoy during this time of year. There's nothing wrong with these things. I'm just asking all of us to reflect--and I mean really, truly reflect--on what it meant for the world when Jesus was born. I believe that Jesus came to us as a little baby and grew up only to die in our place. But I'm like a lot of Christians: I believe it, but I don't always reflect on it as I should. It's very easy to believe something is true, but sometimes it's hard to make it a reality in our lives when it happened so very long ago.

This year our choir at church sang one of the most beautiful Christmas songs I have ever heard, "Candlelight Carol" by John Rutter. You can listen to it here. The third verse is my favorite:

Find him at Bethlehem laid in a manger:
Christ our redeemer asleep in the hay.
Godhead incarnate and hope of salvation:
A child with his mother that first Christmas day.

Just think about those words! I mean, really think about them:

Think about Christ our redeemer! According to the American Heritage Dictionary, to redeem something means "to set free; to rescue or ransom; to save from a state of sinfulness and its consequences; to make up for or compensate for; to restore the honor, worth, or reputation of." Christ redeemed us! We are unworthy to stand before the God of the universe. We are dirty, rotten sinners. We deserve to spend an eternity in hell. But Christ redeemed us! We don't have to spend an eternity in hell, separated from God! We can spend a glorious eternity in heaven, worshiping and adoring our Creator and Redeemer! Think about that.

Think about the Godhead incarnate! Incarnate means to be embodied in human form. The Godhead in human form! And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth! The Godhead incarnate: Christ as a little helpless baby, born to a poor, young virgin who had no place other than a feeding trough to lay her precious newborn. Christ spending 33 years on this earth, a fallen and wretched world, eventually suffering a death more horrendous and painful and humiliating than any of us will ever experience. Why would He be willing to do all of that for us?? Think about that.

A child with his mother that first Christmas day. Think about that and all that it encompasses this Christmas season.