I Am the Reason...

Okay friends, let's chat for a minute about something that I can't seem to get out of my head. Seeing as though it is in fact 3:00 o'clock in the morning clearly I need to get it out of my brain and onto paper..or screen. Whatever, you get what I'm saying.

Basically it's this whole Christmas thing. The lights, decorations, carols, sales and shopping. Is it wrong that the thought "yuck" streams through my mind at the end of that statement? For some reason I can't seem to get into this whole holiday spirit. It's like the good tidings fairy forgot to sprinkle me with joy to the world dust or something. I think in some ways I sort of hold a grudge against the ridiculous hype that encircles this holiday. The large unsightly lit up yard ornaments and the stations that only play Christmas music for the month and the "must shop" deals that are "one day only" every weekend.

Can someone please explain to me why we put live trees inside of our house and decorate them? Or why we change all the decorations in the entire house only to have to pack it and store it in a dusty attic for another full year? Seems like an unnecessary amount of added "to-do's" and leads me back to the whole excessive clutter issue. All of it just puts a bad taste in my mouth.

A "holiday" is meant to honor someone. It's the exemption from work or school; it's a vacation. Yet I see people spending most of theirs stressed out and busy. Sure seems like we contradict what a holiday is suppose to look like. Call me the Grinch or Scrooge or whatever. It's not that I can't appreciate Christmas or the holiday thing, it's the over-doing, over-commercialized, over-whelming pressure that turns it from reflection, relaxation, and rest into consuming, chaos, and expectation.

It's all a rat race to get more stuff that is devoid of meaning and completely goes against what I think Jesus stands for. Let's for a second look past the plastic baby in the manger scene in your neighbors front yard and get back to who He really is. Let's think about what he was born for. The whole "Jesus is the reason for the season" thing, though true (and cliche), to me sort of misses the mark. What's really on my mind is something someone said to me recently.

I am the reason for the season. YOU are the reason for the season.

The birth of Jesus wasn't glamorized with lights lining the manger, a large pine tree decorated to the nine's, or a giant blow-up frosty out in front of the inn. He was born into the most simple of circumstance. At the most quiet of times with one purpose. To offer me the gift of life through the grace of His death and Resurrection. Jesus was born to die for you. He was born so that we could know him. So that we could be changed.

When I realize that I am the reason for this whole holiday thing, I think my heart grows sort of like the Grinch's, bursting beyond the bounds of its small box. What a gift. What a true, priceless, undeserved gift. What a reason to celebrate the birth of a man--yet still fully God--who took actual steps in our shoes to understand what it is like to live in this broken world. To be able to understand what joy, pain, anger, heartache, rejection and love actually feels like. That's why Jesus came to earth.

Not only did God desire to know how it felt to walk a mile in our shoes, he wanted to save our souls. This isn't something that can be wrapped in colorful paper and topped with a bow. It isn't something that belongs hidden under a tree and I don't think it will be delivered by a white bearded man in a red suit. This is something so valuable, the desire for anything else will leave you searching for the only void-filling gift of His grace. This life saving, soul transforming gift that doesn't claim to bring a perfect life. It isn't fifty percent off. It doesn't have a money back guarantee. It's wrapped in swaddling clothes, sent so many December's ago with one reason. That you and I would have the choice to of new life.

You are the reason for the season. You are the reason Christ came to die. And when you understand that you can't earn it, you can't be good enough, it isn't about perfection or "sinless" living, and simply accept the gift Jesus offers, all the extra Christmas jazz won't seem nearly as glamorous or exciting. This gift isn't like Santa's list that has you bouncing from naughty to nice. That's not how grace works. It's undeserved, yet freely given. No matter the past, current, or future "sins"--the forgiveness offered through Jesus is sufficient to cover it all. Once you've decided to receive the only thing that you'll ever need, the one gift that is unchanging; everything else seems sort of fleeting.

So, you can return the shake weight--you're all set now.
Merry Christmas friends.

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Funny how right on Linus was...