Christmas is around the corner. I know because 'red cup' season (my all-time favorite season) starts on Tuesday. As I mentally start to prepare for Christmas, anxiety wells up in me & I begin to stress over my finances & Christmas presents & traffic & long lines everywhere!! I quickly forget what this season is truly all about.
God has been working in my heart a lot lately...healing brokenness & softening bitterness. He's been breaking down pride barriers so that I can truly accept His healing & grace. He's filling me up & His blessings continue to astound me. The thing I tend to forget is this: the only reason I am able to experience all of this is because Jesus humbled Himself & gave His life as a love offering for all humanity.
At the church I visited today I saw a video for Advent Conspiracy [adventconspiracy.org]. (The video is on my profile page) They showed a statistic that put Christmas into perspective for me. In the United States we spend $450,000,000,000 on Christmas. That's 450 billion dollars if you were thrown off by all those zeros. Now I don't know about you, but that's a lot of money to me. They also shared that the estimated cost to solve the world's water crisis & bring clean water to everyone is $10,000,000,000...10 billion dollars! Those numbers put my life into perspective.
Celebrating the birth of Jesus should be a time when we experience & worship the God who gave Himself for us. The God who disadvantaged Himself for you & me. When I start to lose sight of Christ in my life everything becomes chaotic! When we lose sight of Christ at Christmastime, a season that should be full of adoration & love & community becomes a frenzy. My store is opening at 11:00pm on Thanksgiving night to accommodate all of the black friday customers who wait for hours to be the first in line to get the best deal on that action hero doll which will only see action for about a month. I don't know about you, but there have been numberous times in my life where someone's asked me what I've gotten for Christmas & even a few days later I can't remember! My life at Christmastime reflects my stubborn selfishness.
One thing that sounds much more appealing than presents this year is presence. I don't care about that sweater I'll wear once...or that book I'll probably never read, I care about creating moments with my family & friends that I will always remember. I want to bake Christmas goodies, decorate a Christmas tree, sing Christmas songs, & take the season slow so I can enjoy each day that passes. I want to make presents that will be meaningful & economically appropriate for my circumstance. I want to put my money to use where it will be more effective.
So which story does my life tell each year? Does my life tell the story of stress, selfishness, anxiety, & frustration. One where I'm too busy to make memories with family & completely broke from spending. Or does my life tell the story of my amazing, mighty God who came to earth to save us. A God who gave the ultimate gift so that I can live a life full of hope & peace. I want my life this year to tell a different story...I want my life to worship the God of the Christmas story.