Christmas Choices: When it simply stinks

We had decided to not get a tree this year, which is hard because we love having a live tree for Christmas. It wasn't because we were hum-bugging about Christmas. We simply found time running short along with our spending budget. I would just get out some decorations to brighten up the house with.

Then, when I opened our ornament tub, a bad smell hit me. Seems when our storage room flooded from the overflowing laundry room, water had seeped into the plastic container and saturated every last cardboard box. Every last item had a covering of mold on it. 

As I stared down into that box, the last of my Christmas cheer ebbing away, I realized a decision had to be made. This, being a real downer of a thing to happen, could either cloud my holiday happiness, or I could look beyond the stench and gunk to what was really important.

And I wonder...

Before God came down to earth as a helpless babe, did He see the stench and gunk we'd made of His world? Did His heart falter with gloom? Was His joy in that wonderful thing He'd created stripped away from the mess that it had become?

I don't know. What I do know is that despite the mess, the stink and the corrosion, He came anyway. He looked beyond the mess and set His eyes on the HOPE of saving the lost children. He never faltered in His choice to come, to walk with us, eat with us, teach us and then die for us. 

Looking at the mess in that plastic tub, I heaved a big sigh, shook my head, and walked away. There might be some I can salvage, but I had decided to deal with it later. 

I allowed myself to be really bummed for about 10 minutes, then decided that it's not about all the decorations anyway. It was only about what He'd done. It was about Love. 

Jesus always made the best of what He had, which honestly wasn't much while He walked this earth. 

All the tinsel and lights

and the presents are nice...

but the real gift is You! 

Happy Birthday, Jesus

Yeah, all that is nice... the decorations, the twinkling lights, and PRESENTS!  Of course. But all that is a means to the end. It's our way to celebrate God's real gift, and it's easy to forget when you get burdened under with the pressure to get more and do more and having everything perfect.

And that's simply madness. Jesus' first bed was an animal troff, that manger where animals munched on hay. Where did we get the idea that everything had to be so... well, you know.

It's okay, if you can't buy a lot. It's okay if the decorations are sparse. It's okay, really. The real gift... it's HIM! It's Jesus coming to earth, dying for our sins, showing us how to really live.

PRAISE HIM! FOR HE IS GOOD!

Turn off the sidebar music and take a moment to wish Him a Happy Birthday right now and all through this week as you go about your Merry Making. I'll be posting some kind of Christmas fun each day, either a video I've come across or maybe some crazy pictures that will make you smile. Be blessed friends. Don't sweat the small stuff. God loves, loves, loves you. He loves you so much, he died for you. 

Can it get any better than that? 

Merry Christmas!

J~