Reason for the Season
Christmas is a couple days away - can you believe it?! I feel like the last 3 months have literally flown by. To be honest, it feels like this every holiday season. I get caught up in the hustle and bustle of everything that I have to do, buy and accomplish before everyone heads home for Christmas and I miss the enjoyment of each day! This has amplified since I’ve gotten a job as well, because 8 hours of my day is dedicated to work rather than all the personal things I need to get done.
I am all about working hard, making lists and achieving more, but when it comes to the holidays I think it would do us all good if we took some time to reflect on the reason for the season. It is so easy to get caught in this mindset of go, go, go and give, give, give that we forget why we’re doing it in the first place!
Christmas to me is all about family, gathering around the dinner table and celebrating the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ! I love coming home for the holidays. I just have the best memories growing up surrounding Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years: the traditions, the meals, the conversations, the gift exchanges, etc. I also love how intentional our family is not only during the holidays, but all throughout the year. My mom always has the dining table set in some extraordinary way and the meals that we share at that table are what strengthen our relationships!
My family and I always joke that when I would come home for holiday breaks during college and even now when I’m married, I can fall asleep anywhere at anytime! Y’all that is so not like me!! I will fall asleep during movies that I love, I could crash at any moment after a meal, and I sleep later than I ever do when I’m at home. There is just something about home that is restful and peaceful.
When I say that we celebrate Christ being born – it’s not just a birthday we’re celebrating! We are celebrating the fact that God sent himself down to earth in the form of a human to deliver us from our sins and to make himself available to us. Jesus was literally perfect in every way - there was no fault in him! He lived a perfect life so that when he died on the cross for our sins, all who trust in him would be saved. What’s awesome about this truth is that he did it with YOU in mind!
You are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light 1 Peter 2:9.
So today, whatever you’re going through- whether it’s family struggles, financial instability, fear of the future and unknowns, etc. know that God has CHOSEN you and DIED for you just so that He can have a relationship with you for eternity. It makes me teary-eyed just thinking about it!
Take a few minutes today to pause and reflect on all that God has done for you and everything that he has provided for you up to this moment. If you’re comfortable, pray this prayer with me :)
Dear God,
Thank you for your provision over my life. I am so undeserving of forgiveness, yet you cover me with grace and mercy daily. Thank you for a roof over my head, clothes on my body and food on the table that you provide every single day. Thank you for the people you have placed in my life, the friendly ones and the difficult ones, because they have played a part in who I am today. Thank you for using all things for the good of those who love you – I trust your plan for me! I know that you will never leave me and that you have prepared me for such a time as this. I ask that you would open my eyes to see your hand in my life every single day. Tune my heart to be more aware of you, Lord.
In Jesus name, Amen.
