Grace full mama

I love Christmas. I have always loved it. I love the traditions, the church services, the million nativity scenes that decorate my house. I love the feeling of warmth and gratefulness, the hope that penetrates every inch of my twinkling home. Once our tree goes up and fills the house with the nostalgic scent of pine or spruce, the lights never get turned off. It is a reminder to all of us that Jesus is the light of the world, and he lives in each one of us. Light is so beautiful in the darkness, don’t you think?

I have been accused of going a little overboard, enjoying the extravagance too much, getting too many gifts; so I visited this with Jesus. Am I just a part of the consumerism issue? Has it become about greed?

No.

In Jewish culture, there were feasts. These were ( are) times steeped in rich tradition, and they all meant something. There was something beautiful to focus on, whether it was the passover feast, Jewish new year ( Rosh Hashanah), Jewish harvest ( Sukkot) which is a week long festival, or just Shabbat, which is the day of rest and feasting that happens on every single sabbath. God knew we needed times of feasting. Our hearts long for it. We were created for heaven. We were created for feasting and celebrating, for fellowship and joy. When we take the time to focus on him and really allow joy, hope, and love to permeate our busy every day lives, we flourish.

I am so thankful that at this point in my life I can bless my kids with good gifts. We can have the big, aromatic, herbed turkey and all of the trimmings. It hasn’t always been that way. I remember the first Christmas that we had after my ex husband left, another family sponsored ours as I couldn’t afford gifts, and their generosity in loving people they didn’t know humbles me to this day. My kids opened gifts that I had not paid for, and we ate a turkey that I had not bought. The Christmas after that I was finally getting on my feet, but I still didn’t have money for shiny new gifts. I scoured marketplace and found my kids used gifts that meant the world to them. I found a bin of my little ponies for my youngest daughter that she still talks about years later. That was the extravagance I was capable of then, and it was enough. It was beautiful.

I love blessing my family with everything that I have, holding nothing back; having a feast that would feed us for weeks and baking that will stuff us for months. I love having piles of gifts for the kids and watching the looks on their faces when they come out in the morning and see gifts in abundance overflowing the house. And do you know why I love it?

Because He does.

Because when God gave us his son he held nothing back. He didn’t worry that it would make us greedy. He didn’t worry that we might sin even more. He didn’t worry. He just did it. He rescued us. We didn’t deserve it, and he had no garuntee that we would steward this incredible gift well. He gave us a blanket covering that came at the highest cost of any gift that has ever been given or ever will be given.

Even though this gift costed him EVERYTHING, he made it beautiful. A baby. What could be more beautiful than that? Born in a manger lit by a precious star, announced by angels. His love was extravagant.

I love Christmas, tradition, feasting, gift giving, and yes, extravagance, because He does. It is a way that I am like him.

Don’t let the world rob you of that childlike joy, and the hope that Christmas sparks in you. Don’t feel silly for loving every little thing about it. Do the crafts with your kids, bake the cookies, wrap the gifts, leave the lights on, let the kids endlessly rearrange the nativity.

We don’t stop and remember that this isn’t home often enough. We were made for heaven, guys. Heaven. Feasting, and fellowship, and the constant physical presence of Jesus. We were made for beauty, and hope. We were given the gift of being able to hope and yearn for the place our hearts belong because of the gift that God gave us in his son. Because of his lavish, excessive, abundant love. Our cup runs over.