We move so quickly on to the next thing.
Already the Christmas dinner feast has been fit into small plastic containers and classified as leftovers. The torn gift wrap has been wadded up, bagged, and tossed into the trash. The presents have been consolidated into tidy piles and taken to each person's room. Soon it will be time to take down decorations and tree and step determinedly into January. Let's be careful.
It would be easy to pack away Jesus with the holiday greens and glitter and barely give Him a thought until the sentimentality of next Christmas's carols invite us to pause and again consider the miracle of God in a manger, to prod us again to "let every heart prepare Him room." Lord knows how full we've let our calendars become. But Jesus didn't come to be with us only as a plastic addition to a 12" nativity scene that sits for a couple of weeks on our table and warms our hearts unthreateningly with His tiny silent presence. Although He doesn't force us to receive the Gift, He came not as the innocent focus of Silent Night, but the clearest Word the world will ever hear. If we will but listen. He came to be the pulse of our heart, the healer of our culture, the savior of our world, the Lord of our days. This week as we stop to consider new year's goals, let's not give Him the same meager status as our Christmas accessories or holiday sweaters, shuffled back into the closet.
Already the Christmas dinner feast has been fit into small plastic containers and classified as leftovers. The torn gift wrap has been wadded up, bagged, and tossed into the trash. The presents have been consolidated into tidy piles and taken to each person's room. Soon it will be time to take down decorations and tree and step determinedly into January. Let's be careful.
It would be easy to pack away Jesus with the holiday greens and glitter and barely give Him a thought until the sentimentality of next Christmas's carols invite us to pause and again consider the miracle of God in a manger, to prod us again to "let every heart prepare Him room." Lord knows how full we've let our calendars become. But Jesus didn't come to be with us only as a plastic addition to a 12" nativity scene that sits for a couple of weeks on our table and warms our hearts unthreateningly with His tiny silent presence. Although He doesn't force us to receive the Gift, He came not as the innocent focus of Silent Night, but the clearest Word the world will ever hear. If we will but listen. He came to be the pulse of our heart, the healer of our culture, the savior of our world, the Lord of our days. This week as we stop to consider new year's goals, let's not give Him the same meager status as our Christmas accessories or holiday sweaters, shuffled back into the closet.
Remember, this little One did not stay a meek and mild baby all tender and pink, but grew up to be a slayer of death and a giver of Life. The Light of the world.
"So let Me out," He says.
"And let Me in."
Photographs: Christmas Mess #2, by Shopping Diva; baby jesus in a box, by giddygirlie
"And let Me in."
Photographs: Christmas Mess #2, by Shopping Diva; baby jesus in a box, by giddygirlie
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