As a young boy coming from a family that specialized in making the best of having little, I've experienced the presentation of a lean material celebration of Christmas. As a young man I've tasted the loneliness of a Christmas alone - broken hearted and isolated from all of my family and friends. As a young father, I've felt the guilt that can accompany the inability to provide the kind of gifts and grandeur that my heart longed to do for my little ones. As a husband, I've felt the inability to present to my precious life partner so many of the things that my heart would in deep love and appreciation at Christmas. So it might be fair to say that I have at least some small glimmer of understanding of those who may find themselves in less than optimal circumstances as Christmas approaches along with a deeply compassionate heart for them as well. So I offer a word here in the hope that any who find themselves in that situation might find some contentment.
It was for the broken that Jesus came at Christmas. It was for the poor and the ill that He felt deep compassion. And it's those honest hearts, humble in spirit and unburdened by arrogance and the distraction of material wealth that are able to draw closest to Him and to have His ear. And the gift that He offers to all by His coming, the greatest gift ever given - the one that we celebrate in Christmas and the one that we as His followers are charged to reflect from His spirit ... is a gift of love.
Let's be honest. At the root of all things, love's what we really want this Christmas. Gifts can be given without any real love or forethought. They break, get used up, wear out. But genuine love is a jewel that all honest hearts treasure. Not a fickle, finicky worldly kind of love, but the real, lasting and selfless kind of love that emanates from the heart of our Savior. That kind of love, the love of Christ, is what this celebration is about and also what makes it special regardless of where we stand in the world at the moment. And when we share that love that we've been given, we've shared the greatest part of the heart of our celebration and the spirit of what we've received through Christ's coming at Christmas.
1 Corinthians 13:4-7 (NLT) "Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged.It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance."
My mother like any other wasn't perfect, but she was a precious lady. She understood the value of love and worked to share it with us kids regardless of our circumstances at any given time and it always stood out as a treasure that could make just about anything special. I remember one Christmas as a young boy when things were financially very slim. There was only a box of oranges and some peanuts that my dad got from the carpenter's union, and a pair of slippers that mom had knitted for each of us - and it didn't matter. It didn't matter because the love of Jesus shone through my mother like a harvest moon through the darkest night. She made it special - love was there and with that, the joy of Christmas for us was complete that year.
Mom was a love specialist. She always made the best of what we had and her heart was inserted into most everything she did. I remember as a child that when Christmas approached, her joy would be especially obvious. It would seem to fill the house like a warm fog of contentment and happiness. It was everywhere. She inserted love in the decorating and mixed it into the food. It was involved in every gift she made from scratch or picked out with intention and forethought and it was evident even in the wrapping. It didn't matter what we had or didn't have materially - the love of Christ through her and her true joy always made it special. It's a precious spirit that even my children, her grandchildren, absolutely knew her for and remember.
In my humble opinion it doesn't matter what you have or don't. It doesn't matter what else you might have to give at Christmas ... as long as you give the most precious gift you have. Reflecting the greatest gift of the love you've been given is always in style and good hearts will resonate with joy at the presentation of the love you have to offer. The world will celebrate in its own way for its own reasons. But for followers of Christ, there's true cause for unending joy and celebration for the eternal gift of love that we've received regardless of our circumstances.
So my humble and hopeful advice to someone finding themselves in a less than ideal circumstance this Christmas would be the following: Focus on the gift of grace that Christ brought in salvation. Be content in your glorious identity and inheritance in Him this Christmas. Share what you've received as the object of His desire - wherever you are and whatever else you may or may not have. Appreciate the gift of love as highly as He does, knowing that He chose to give it, He gave it to you on purpose, He sees you and He loves you. Everything you need for a real and blessed celebration is already available to you if the love of Christ is in you. What you choose to do with it is definitely a choice ... it's up to you.
As for me, I intend to honor both my Lord and my mother by offering what's most precious this Christmas in Christ's family tradition ... and I hope to get it too!
1 Corinthians 13:13 (NLT) "Three things will last forever--faith, hope, and love--and the greatest of these is love."
Comments
Post a Comment