Over the past month or so, I've been sort of trying to figure out how to embrace Christmas in a more reflective way- to get beyond the secular to the sacred.
I'm not sure it happened.
Now that I'm on the other side of Christmas for another year, I find myself reflecting once again on just what exactly is the point of all of it?
I did pretty much all the things that I thought would help us reflect on the WHY of Christmas as well as spend time together as a family making memories: baking, advent readings, Christmas concerts/plays, skipping school for snow days, etc.
And I wonder, did I even manage to plant a seed in my childrens' subconscious minds about WHY I was having them do any of this stuff? To focus on the WHY (Jesus needing to come and die for our sins) instead of the STUFF.
Somehow I can't seem to shake the feeling that somehow we (read- they) STILL missed it.
Sort of like the people did when Jesus first came- they were looking for a revolutionary but God gave them a baby instead.
There is part of me that desperately wants to read the end of my life's story- or to see even 5 or 10 years down the road so that I can see that they do get it eventually and everything turns out okay.
But that's not how God works or how faith works. Heb. 11:1 says "Now faith is the assurance that what we hope for will come about and the certainty that what we cannot see exists."
Maybe it's ME that needed to learn some things this Christmas and God used the guise of my children to teach it to me.
Maybe it's ME that needs to let go of my 'I need to be perfect or I'm going to screw up my kids and they'll never learn anything and won't become Christians or grow up to be godly men/women' mentality that I've been struggling with lately.
Maybe, just maybe, I'm the one that needs to remember that I am still in need of a Saviour- just as much as I think my kids are.
That He came exactly BECAUSE I CAN NOT do it myself- no matter how much I think I have to in order for my life to finally 'work'.
So what's the point?
To get the reminder that I was saved by faith, not by works. I'd fallen back into the 'works' trap and gotten bogged down with it's resulting bondage- and needed a wake-up call to kick my butt back out of there.
Hopefully, God taught my kids the things that they needed to learn, but for now it's enough that I learned something.
Keeping it real, by the grace of God...
Tammy
I'm not sure it happened.
Now that I'm on the other side of Christmas for another year, I find myself reflecting once again on just what exactly is the point of all of it?
I did pretty much all the things that I thought would help us reflect on the WHY of Christmas as well as spend time together as a family making memories: baking, advent readings, Christmas concerts/plays, skipping school for snow days, etc.
And I wonder, did I even manage to plant a seed in my childrens' subconscious minds about WHY I was having them do any of this stuff? To focus on the WHY (Jesus needing to come and die for our sins) instead of the STUFF.
Somehow I can't seem to shake the feeling that somehow we (read- they) STILL missed it.
Sort of like the people did when Jesus first came- they were looking for a revolutionary but God gave them a baby instead.
There is part of me that desperately wants to read the end of my life's story- or to see even 5 or 10 years down the road so that I can see that they do get it eventually and everything turns out okay.
But that's not how God works or how faith works. Heb. 11:1 says "Now faith is the assurance that what we hope for will come about and the certainty that what we cannot see exists."
Maybe it's ME that needed to learn some things this Christmas and God used the guise of my children to teach it to me.
Maybe it's ME that needs to let go of my 'I need to be perfect or I'm going to screw up my kids and they'll never learn anything and won't become Christians or grow up to be godly men/women' mentality that I've been struggling with lately.
Maybe, just maybe, I'm the one that needs to remember that I am still in need of a Saviour- just as much as I think my kids are.
That He came exactly BECAUSE I CAN NOT do it myself- no matter how much I think I have to in order for my life to finally 'work'.
So what's the point?
To get the reminder that I was saved by faith, not by works. I'd fallen back into the 'works' trap and gotten bogged down with it's resulting bondage- and needed a wake-up call to kick my butt back out of there.
Hopefully, God taught my kids the things that they needed to learn, but for now it's enough that I learned something.
Keeping it real, by the grace of God...
Tammy
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