In the immortal words of the Chipmunks...
Christmastime is here!
Time for joy! And time for cheer!
Joy?
Cheer? Those sound good,
very nostalgic, but not very realistic.
Something for the kids, maybe, but the adults? More like time for shopping. And cooking. And filling our calendars with lots of holiday
parties and activities. And who is
going to put up all those decorations anyway? Joy and cheer get lost in the business of the season.
I was having a conversation with some friends recently about
how we handle Christmas presents with our children. People basically fell into
one of two camps: Some try to
minimize presents, to focus more on the meaning of the holiday or to fight back
materialism, or both. Others try
to create the "magic of Christmas" by buying a lot of gifts for the
kids to open in the morning, hoping for that look of wonderment on the kids’
faces. It is this second group I
want to address here.
Creating that "magic" is not limited to the number
of presents we buy. It is also in
trying to have the perfect family gathering, the most festive home, the most
interesting letter to go with our beautifully posed family portrait in our
Christmas cards. We are reaching for Christmas; this idealized version that
only exists in our imaginations and old Christmas movies. But with the added pressure, what we
often end up with is more of a Griswald Family Christmas than a Miracle on 34th
Street.
Let's take a moment to look back at Christmases past. What do you remember from your own childhood? Or from when your children were
young? I'm guessing that presents
are a part of it, of course, but it also includes non-monetary traditions. Listening to your favorite carols, trimming
the tree together, attending church services and school programs.
Let me challenge you this season to evaluate your calendars
and your budgets carefully. Keep
the activities and expenditures that mean the most to you, but feel free to
eliminate the others. Slow down
and allow Christmas to find you.
It's still there, no matter your age. It's found wrapped in a manger, and its purpose is to bring
peace and salvation, not expense and chaos.
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ReplyDeleteI enjoyed your article, Rachel... Merry Christmas to you and your family. Thinking of your clients, for some reaching for Christmas can feel like reaching through prison bars; reaching through the guilt, the shame, and the regret of an unforgettable history of experiences. But Jesus came from that high and lofty place to save the contrite and humble. He came to heal those paralyzed... imprisoned by the past.
ReplyDeleteAt the prison, my clients are spending another Christmas season behind bars. Many have realized that even when they were out there they were imprisoned in their addiction.
Thank God the Savior came to where we live to take us out from where we live in to where He lives. Praise God that Christmas has found us. If only we could all recognize that the cell door of our past has been unlocked and flung wide open.
What a privilege we have as counselors to help those still in their prison reaching for Christmas through the bars; to help them to see that Christmas as found them, and opened the door. What a privilege we have to help guide them out through an open door by way of God's grace through relationship that leads to peace and salvation. (A synonym for the word 'salvation' is 'recovery'.)