'Tis the Season

I can't believe I haven't written a post in two weeks!  That just shows that I, like the rest of the world, have been extremely busy just due to the time of the year.  It is so easy to get overbooked during the holidays without even trying.  The first two weeks of this month were craziness for me with vacationing in New York right after getting back from Thanksgiving break.  I think I met myself coming and going!

I've been doing a 25 day Christmas study/devotion this month and I have really enjoyed digging into the Word and learning more in depth about the promises and back story to the birth of Christ.  As a Christian, this time of the year is so special because it is a time to remember the birth of our Savior.  It truly is the reason for and behind the season and to me, it is heart breaking that many people miss that important fact.  Don't get me wrong, I love every part of Christmas from santa, to frosty, to gifts, to decorating the tree, to cooking and more importantly eating, to looking at Christmas lights and singing carols and of course most importantly, being with family...but to me, that's just the fluff and icing of Christmas.  The real substance of the holiday is the birth of Christ.

This time of the year is just a pressure cooker of a season and more people are depressed and lonely during the holidays than any other time of the year.  It is so easy to focus on what you don't have, how little money you have, what gifts you didn't get, how you wish your Christmas lights were better than your neighbors...whatever...but don't let the world steal the joy of the season!  Last year, I was given the most precious of gifts in the most unfashionable way that completely transformed Christmas to me forever more and I would like to share a little of that story here today. 

Due to having a spouse walk out of my life right before Thanksgiving last year, it meant that I had to make it through the holiday trifecta of Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years alone.  For a person who was already depressed and whose world had just fallen apart, that is about as low of a blow as you can receive!  Add to that I found out he had filed for divorce and I got served papers TWICE the week before the holiday and I was pretty darn low as one can imagine.  Due to how we had already arranged our "holiday schedule" months before with families, it mean that I would actually spend Christmas day at home, now alone, after celebrating with my family the week before Christmas.  Now, don't go feeling too sorry for me as I had PLENTY of friends and family inviting me to do things with them and most offers, I politely declined because let's face it, I was pretty much a party destroyer with my emotional state of mind and I was okay with my Christmas being depressing, but I didn't want to ruin anyone elses.  I went to church on Christmas Eve after spending some time with a dear friend's family that took me in...and then the snow began to set in (in fact I barely made it home as the roads were so bad that night).  It was actually the beginnings of a White Christmas, which was beautiful and wonderful and NEVER happens in Texas, but it also meant that any plans I had for Christmas day were now squaushed because the roads were pretty treacherous in our area.  I was isolated.  I got home Christmas Eve night and I did what I did best at that point in my life...I sat there and I cried and I prayed...a lot.  Alone with my thoughts.  Quiet.  I thought about all the people surrounded by their families, their husbands, their loved ones at that moment and I took a long hard look around me and in that moment...I was ashamed and I felt like a failure.  You see, everything I had worked so hard for as in a career, a business, a marriage, and "stuff" that had been acquired (emphasis on I)...didn't really mean much in that moment.  Let's just say I needed a priority shift in my life.  I know now that God isolated me in that season of my life for a reason...to teach me some valuable lessons...and I don't mean that in a vengeful, punishing way...I mean that in a loving, caring, fatherly way. 

The next morning, I woke up to a beautiful white Christmas.  I was determined to make the most of the day and not be depressed as I had been the night before.  There is nothing like a snow covered morning to make you realize that every day is a do-over and the slate has been wiped clean.  That was a gift and I knew it was just for me.  I then sat with my coffee and opened my Bible and I read the Christmas story and the words leapt off the page.  Although I had read and heard the story umpteen times, it was like this time was the very first time.  I meditated on the fact that God would bring such a gift to the world, His very own son, knowing the end result...as in 33 years later, Jesus would die a horrible death on a cross that He most certainly did not deserve and that His last words would be "My God, My God, why have you forsaken me".  What a gift, what a sacrifice and what a plan for our salvation.  I began to just get a glimpse of the love that God had for me, for each of us, to give that kind of a gift to the world in order to save our eternity and to cover over our sins, our failures, and our missteps.  The birth of Christ is a gift that not a one of us deserved, but because of our Father's love for us, He set His plan into motion.  It is about second chances, hope, and love DESPITE our failures.  There is nothing I could do to deserve that valuable of a gift, but in that moment of reflection, I "got it" and I began to see there would be a light at the end of the tunnel for me, there was something to hope for and there was most certainly a master plan in motion.  Not to say the next year wasn't without its ups and downs but in that moment, I received the gift of hope and love.  In short, after all these years, I was able to process on a deeper level what Christmas truly meant to me.  That revelation was a gift and a precious time that I will never forget and it has become a defining moment in my life.  Again, what the enemy meant to harm me, depress me and to be my undoing...God used for His purposes as He began to show me He was in control of my life and that ultimately brought me peace and joy.

So, this Christmas, be sure and take the time to think about what this season means and don't get lost in the stress and the hustle and the bustle that the world brings with this season.  Take the time to reflect, to meditate, to be humbled on the price that gift ultimately cost and I guarantee you the rest of the "stresses" of the holiday will fade away, and you, too, will celebrate Christmas with a grateful and humble heart.

He is the Reason!

Joy