Week 26: Inhale.

Week 26 – 40 Weeks in the Shade of God’s Care

I’ve always loved Christmas. Every part of it warms my heart. I love the smell of Christmas baking, the twinkle of lights in the neighborhood. I enjoy the anticipation surrounding the season. I enjoy it so much that I plan for it all year. In the fall I have often trounced through the woods, to tie a ribbon around my perfect tree before the snow disguises its branches. After Thanksgiving, I head back into the woods. I love bringing my tree inside, decorating it, sleeping near it, and enjoying my quiet time beside it.

Like many of you, my love of Christmas began as a child. Do you remember that thing called a TV guide, an actual magazine you purchased at the checkout stand in the grocery store?  I would circle all the Christmas movies that aired only once a year: Frosty, Rudolph, Little Drummer Boy, Santa Claus is Coming to Town, and Charlie Brown’s Christmas. Our family built our entire Christmas calendar around those air dates—they were that special. I think schools even scheduled their Christmas programs around these special holiday shows.

As a child, my greatest concerns were “Did my letter make it to the North Pole?” “Would Santa fit down my chimney with the gifts I requested?” “Wait—what if we didn’t even have a chimney?”  “How would gifts end up under the tree?”

I never doubted Christmas was definitelyThe Most Wonderful Time of the Year with all its tinsel and blinking lights.

But then we all grow up. We become the one hosting the Christmas parties, selecting outfits for our kid’s Christmas programs, trying to keep multiple children clean and dressed—at the same moment—for the annual Christmas card photo. We now write and address the holiday cards, make sure the baking is completed, the perfect gifts are purchased and wrapped, the house is decorated, and the tree is trimmed.

INHALE!

For most women, this most wonderful time of the year can end up bulging at the seams with activity and distraction. Our goal often becomes to keep the plates spinning and just try to make it to Christmas without a melt-down or a mound of debt. December 26^th oven arrives, exposing a woman, worn out and worn down. We vow next year will be different.

Ann Voskamp writes, “Our world celebrates Christmas large and flossy, full and fast…but God, when he came, he showed up small.  Maybe bigger, brighter, fuller, and faster isn’t what makes Christmas the most wonderful time of the year?  

This week we begin what the church calls “Advent” It symbolizing the four weeks prior to Christmas. It literally means coming—the coming of someone far greater than Santa, the coming on One who brings daily gifts, not found under the tree, but delivered straight into our heart.

I love the promise in the Bible:

We also know that the Son did not come to help angels;

he came to help the descendants of Abraham—

HE CAME TO HELP YOU AND ME.

 ¹⁷ Therefore, it was necessary for him to be made,

in every respect, like us—

so that he could be our merciful and faithful High Priest before God.

Then he could offer a sacrifice

that would take away the sins of the people. 

¹⁸ Since he himself has gone through suffering and testing,

he is able to help us when we are being tested.

Hebrews 2:16-18

Christmas, though wonderful, can be a season that tests us. Our time is stretched, our finances are stretched, our patience is stretched. Instead of pouring life into us, the season might serve as a slow drain—a reminder of all the things we long to accomplish, or fail to accomplish, or we burn ourselves out attempting to accomplish.

This Christmas let’s not wait until December 25^th to experience the joy of Christmas. Advent reminds us:

“I have come to help you, not only during this season,
but every moment of every day of your life.

Can you trust me to be the mana you need to nourish your soul?

Can you believe I will fully enter into these moments
to fuel you with strength?

Can you relish in me, the Greatest Gift—My presence always beside you?

INHALE!

Slow down for this moment and recognize I am near.

Breathe deeply of my love for you,

My longing to be with you,

My promise to help you!