Thanksgiving is over. The Christmas shopping season has begun. Lights have been put up. Trees have been decorated. Christmas music is playing on the radio. Christmas time is back again. For some like my two year old, everything seems new to her. She’s never heard the old Christmas songs. She’s never helped decorate our Christmas tree until this year. Christmas is very new to her.
But for adults, Christmas is something we do every year. We are used to it. We know the drill. We know what’s supposed to go on the to-do lists. We’ve heard all the old songs a million times. It can be hard to see Christmas in a new way. It can be hard to experience it like it was the first time.
But here we are. We are beginning the Advent journey. Each Sunday we will hear an old familiar story-John the Baptist, Mary and Gabriel, the birth, and the Wise Men. We will sing the familiar Christmas Carols. And we will journey towards Christmas Day reminding ourselves of the big message of this season: that God came to earth to live among fragile humans and willingly did so. God did this out of great love for each one of us.
And so as the hectic season begins let us remember that this is all about God’s great love for us. It’s not about anything else. It’s not about how busy we are, how many things we use to decorate our house, or how delicious the turkey is. It’s about God’s great love for us, a love that refused to give up on us. A love that went the extra mile and was born in a feeding trough to two terrified parents with only animals to watch. That’s how far God’s love goes. May God’s love carry us through this busy and hectic season.
Stories from Mooreland 