Christmas Gift

It is five days 'til Christmas and I am obsessively tracking packages that have not arrived yet.  The half-dozen Christmas cards that I'm actually sending out are signed and addressed on the counter, waiting to be stuffed with the pictures that accidently got shipped to Colorado.  I spent yesterday and today cooking because I don't want to spend Christmas in the kitchen.  Last week, the eight hours Brett was at school were spent frantically running errands.  In the last two weeks, I've blown through a full month's worth of grocery money anticipating the 17 guests we will have over this weekend.  This was my third year helping coordinate the giving tree at our church, which I love doing, but averages 3-6 hours a week for a full six weeks.  I also took on what turned out to be a huge project which fully consumed two weeks of my life since Thanksgiving (more on that later).  And in the midst of all of this, I am not-giving-my-full-attention to homeschooling Brett.  I was completely sympathetic when one of my mom friends went on a rant on Facebook about hating Christmas.

But I don't hate Christmas.  I love Christmas!  I really do...I just don't love the constant overwhelmed feeling and ever-growing to-do list. I don't love the crowds.  I don't love being bombarded by messages to buy more.  Or the Pinterest sparkle that will not adorn my home. Or the expectations for an elaborate occasion complete with traditions, festive foods, decorations and-let's not forget- the gifts!

Every mom on the planet knows the gifts are where the magic happens.  Otherwise, Santa would ring doorbells and sing Christmas carols.  And even though those gifts often bring momentary joy, every mom on the planet has found a much-wished-for toy lost in a cluttered mess just short of February. Worse yet- in the garage sale box by April.

The gifts under the tree will always disappoint but there is one gift that got this whole thing started. Long ago, far away, in a lowly manger God gave himself to a lost and broken world.  Do not let the Christmas clutter distract you from the baby, wrapped in rags, born to die that we may live in redeeming grace.

Romans 5:15-17 (The Message) Yet the rescuing gift is not exactly parallel to the death-dealing sin. If one man’s sin put crowds of people at the dead-end abyss of separation from God, just think what God’s gift poured through one man, Jesus Christ, will do! ...If death got the upper hand through one man’s wrongdoing, can you imagine the breathtaking recovery life makes, sovereign life, in those who grasp with both hands this wildly extravagant life-gift, this grand setting-everything-right, that the one man Jesus Christ provides?

Good news, Moms everywhere!  You don't have to make the magic happen!  It already did.  You just have to clear the clutter and make space for your little ones to adore The Little One.