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Do you ever feel like you’ve just lost the wonder of Christmas? Maybe it’s because of the weariness or the busyness. Or maybe Christmas has just become another event to you. You just love the Christmas gatherings and spending time with family and friends, but you fail to focus on who God is and what the birth of His son Jesus means to you personally. It means everything! And it should change everything about how we celebrate. Listen to this familiar part of the Christmas story from Luke 2,

“Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.” When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.” So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.”

Doesn’t it make you want to be there and join them on that holy night in Bethlehem, adoring our Savior? I looked up the word “adore” and the Merriam-Webster definition is “to regard with loving admiration and devotion”. To adore is to love dearly, be devoted to, cherish, treasure, prize, and think the world of. These are the same words that come to mind as I think about how the shepherds dropped everything and hurried to Bethlehem, how they must have gazed at baby Jesus with great wonder and awe knowing he was the Promised One in whom they all had been waiting for, and how they told everyone about what they had seen and heard. Or how Mary soaked in every moment and treasured all that was happening in her heart.

We adore what is most precious to us. We aren’t in Bethlehem with the shepherds but we are still invited to come and adore Jesus. Our adoration is shown as we spend time in God’s Word even when life gets busy, showing that we need Him to shape our thoughts and our actions. It’s shown in the midst of our weariness as we chose to trust and praise Him even when it’s hard. And it’s shown as we celebrate Christmas focusing less and less on ourselves and more and more on our Savior. He is worthy to be first in our lives. So, come let us “Adore Him!” this Christmas season and always.

If I am not weary from trying to do too many things around Christmas, there have been years when I am weary and weighted down by the struggles in this life. Life is just hard sometimes, right? I imagine that some of you are dealing with some really difficult things as we near all these celebratory days. Maybe you feel like your world has been turned upside down and you are trying to figure out how the joy of Christmas is supposed to fit in with your heartache.

The first Christmas we celebrated after losing my daughter, Cora, to cancer was really hard. There was so much pain that came with seeing everyone so happy and together celebrating with their families when my heart was crushed and my family was broken. I vividly remember telling myself, “You just have to make it through Christmas. You just have to survive this year.” While there was some truth in that Christmas just looked different for me that year, I think I was missing something big. I could rejoice, no matter what my circumstances, because my hope was and is in Jesus. In a Christmas letter we received from Nancy Guthrie she referred to a line in Hark! The Herald Angels Sing! as she wrote, “Our great hope is that Christ will come again, not as a helpless baby in a manger, but as a magnificent king on a throne—a king who will be close enough, and gentle enough, to wipe every tear from our eyes. He will personally put an end to everything that has brought his people pain. He will “raise the sons of earth” by transforming “our lowly body to be like his glorious body” to live with him forever on a gloriously renewed earth. The wonder of it made the herald angels want to sing. And as the wonder of it begins to sink in, it makes us want to sing, too.”

That truth gives me perspective in the midst of great difficulty. If you can relate to this weariness, I pray that you would cling to God as your Comfort and Counselor. He invites us to come to him when we are weary and burdened and find true rest (Matthew 11: 28-30). Let’s allow Jesus to meet us in our weariness, trust in who He is, and rejoice in the HOPE that we find in Him as we sing of the wonder of His birth!

I prepare room for a lot of things during Christmas but I often struggle to prepare my own heart because I don’t leave any room for Jesus. Remember that ridiculous list I told you about yesterday that often goes through my head around this time of year? While most of those things aren’t bad and can even be meaningful, I often fill my days with all those “good” things and don’t leave any room for what is “best”.

Most of us are familiar with the passage in Deuteronomy 11 that instructs us to teach God’s Word to our children all throughout the day, wherever we are. As I read back through that passage I was struck again by how before I can teach my children, I have to have God’s Word in me! I love how The Message paraphrases Deuteronomy 11:18,

“Place these words on your hearts. Get them deep inside you. Tie them on your hands and foreheads as a reminder.”

Before we can be ready to survive the holidays with grace and love our families and others well during this Christmas season, we have to get God’s Word deep inside of us. In Treasuring God in our Traditions Noel Piper says, “The living water in our own hearts is the fountain from which we shower Christ on our family. Our time with God and his preparation of us is a necessary foundation. Without it our Christmas activities will degenerate into hoopla.”

I want to challenge you…and myself…to think of one way we can prepare room for Jesus in our lives in these days leading up to Christmas and after. If you don’t have an established time in God’s Word and in prayer each day, this advent season is the perfect time to start! Commit to a time each day and spend time in His Word, asking Him to prepare your heart and guard you from allowing Christmas to become just a list of activities you are trying to survive. If you are thinking, “I am way too busy to fit that into my schedule, especially at this time of year!” I challenge you to stop and reevaluate your schedule and activities. I have found that when I come to God in the middle of the busyness and seek Him first that He gives me time for the rest of the things that are important to accomplish that day. Or maybe you have a hard time even knowing where to start with a daily quiet time. If you’ve read this blog for awhile you know that A Place of Quiet Rest by Nancy Leigh DeMoss has been really helpful to me as I’ve fought to make daily time with the Lord a consistent reality in my own life. And you know it’s definitely been a fight!

If you already spend time in God’s Word each day ask God to stretch you a little this year. Use this time leading up to Christmas to memorize a passage or several passages in the Bible. Or commit to spend some time journaling as you read through the familiar Christmas story passages asking God to make the gospel go deeper and deeper in your heart this year. Or spend a little extra time each day reading through an advent book like Nancy Guthrie’s Come Thou Long Expected Savior. Elyse Fitzpatrick has a new Christmas Advent devotional out this year too!

I’d love to hear your thoughts. How have you prepared room for Jesus in the past? What will you do to make sure you prepare room for Jesus this year as the Christmas season quickly approaches? Let’s make a plan together!

Resources:

Treasuring God is our Traditions by Noel Piper

A Place of Quiet Rest by Nancy Leigh DeMoss

Come Though Long Expected Savior by Nancy Guthrie

Counting the Days, Lighting the Candles: A Christmas Advent Devotional by Elyse Fitzpatrick and Jessica Thompson

Behold the Lamb of God by Andrew Peterson

Let Every Heart Printable by Heather @ Life Made Lovely

 

Around this time of year I begin to feel the “holiday panic” start creeping in. Do you know what I mean? Sheesh, I hope I’m not the only one! As soon as I flip my calendar over to November, I sense the nearness of Christmas and all that I want to get done before that special day. I tend to over complicate things…and procrastinate too…which is not a good combination. You might not be able to relate to all the thoughts that start filling my head but maybe you can relate to a few. Thoughts like…

What great toys should I give to my boys this year and how am I ever going to think of something to give to my husband…or to my dad?

I don’t think I need to buy wrapping paper this year because I bought it on clearance last year…but where did I put it?

I need to schedule family pictures and perfectly coordinate all of our outfits. And then I need to pick the perfect Christmas card…and it needs to be creative because everyone we know will see it. Or should we even send out Christmas cards this year…it is getting kind of expensive and I have all those Christmas gifts to buy too. I didn’t really budget for Christmas this year so things are going to be tight.

Maybe I should spend some time searching Pinterest for the perfect DIY teacher gift and while I am there I might as well start pinning ideas for decorating my house. But when I am I going to find time to decorate because we have a million Christmas activities and parties to attend? I don’t even know when we will find time to go pick out a Christmas tree!

And speaking of parties I need to hit up the thrift stores and pick up ugly Christmas sweaters for our small group party. I hope they still have some left.

My house is a disaster!

I heard the ladies in my Bible study talking about all these creative things they are doing to teach their kids about Jesus’ birth. Sometimes I don’t even know where to start with all that…and honestly I am too stressed out and can’t really find the time to squeeze that into my day. I remember trying last year and both of my boys were fighting before we even got started and sometimes it just doesn’t seem worth it. I’ll just worry about finding them cute Christmas outfits instead. We can decorate Christmas cookies together too!

And we probably should give…since Christmas is about giving. Maybe we can throw together one of those Operation Christmas Child Boxes some night this week. Maybe.

Oh, and I write a blog so I’d better make sure that I take beautiful pictures of all these things we are doing so that I can post them on there too!

It makes me exhausted and even a little tense just to write all those thoughts down. And while this may be exaggerating a little…I am embarrassed to say that there have been many times during the holidays when “holiday panic” would be the perfect way to describe the condition of my heart. As the days in November and December fly by I begin to think to myself, I just have to make it through the holidays…I just need to survive.

I had the privilege of sharing with the mom’s group at my church last week.  Two of my dear friends shared with me and the original topic was “surviving the holidays”. As we discussed our ideas we all came back to the truth that the only way to survive the holidays is with Christ at the center. We want to survive the holidays with grace. And if our hearts are focused on Jesus, it really shouldn’t be about surviving at all! In Treasuring God in Our Traditions, Noel Piper says that our Christmas celebrations should be a “picture of anticipation and waiting for God’s plan to be completed, a picture of our joy in the salvation he has begun for us.” We are remembering and worshiping and waiting for Gods plan to be completed. That is what Christmas is all about.

I long for my family to understand what Christmas is all about and I’m sure you do too. The presents and parties and cookies are a fun part of Christmas but that’s not what really matters. Only Jesus matters. But if I’m honest, my own heart often doesn’t reflect that truth at this time of year. I have only been a mom for five years now, but I’m quickly realizing that I am the one who sets the tone in my home.

It starts with us ladies.

It starts with examining our own hearts as we approach this advent season. Then, as we keep our eyes fixed on Jesus, the traditions we choose for our families and how we give and love others becomes the natural outflow of our hearts.

I know it is a little premature to be talking about Christmas. Focusing on gratitude as we near Thanksgiving definitely shouldn’t be overlooked. But as I spoke last week I realized how thankful I was that I had taken the time to think and pray about preparing my own heart for the holidays. If I had waited until December 1st I’m sure I would have easily been sucked into the busyness of the season and missed out on Who it is all about. I know, because I’ve allowed that to happen many times before. So this year I want to think and plan ahead. I want my heart to be prepared before the season rushes by. I don’t want to miss keeping my eyes on Jesus this year.

More on this tomorrow…