Christmas

(Our tree 6 days before Christmas)

My first tendency is to say, "it's not the same!" As I look around my home, I see an empty living room, usually warm and cozy with lights, a tree, stockings hung by the fire and a winter Christmas village on my mantel. Our tree (the one thing we put up this Christmas) lies cold and dry, on our back patio. We took it down today...6 days before Christmas. Boxes are piling in our dining area, instead of a table adorned with poinsettias, and odds and ends scatter the counters instead of cinnamon candles and gingerbread houses. 


In case it isn't clear, we're moving!! "It's not the same" I think to myself, as I long to sit and listen to Christmas music and drink hot cider by a raging fire. Instead I listen to Christmas music while scarfing down the last remnants of edible food left in our fridge, and pack a box for dessert! Things are a mess and I miss what I know as normal... "it's not the same." 


Then in the quietness of my heart, I remember that the true meaning of Christmas is NOT the perfect winter village on my mantel, or Christmas trees, or stockings hung by the fire. If Jesus is the reason for the season, then the true celebration centers on the fact that Jesus willingly left the comforts of heaven, took the form of an infant, and eventually purchased our salvation by His death on a cross.  Jesus never changed, our focus is what changed. So as I close the doors to my home, and this chapter of my life, I will focus on what a blessing it is to be an heir to the King, and what it means to follow Him. This is a truly unique Christmas for us, but one I'll always remember. 


I love you Jesus, and I am sorry when I lose sight of what is really important. Thank you Jesus for being the same yesterday, today, and forever.


Merry Christmas,
~Kristi

Titus 3:4-7 "But when the kindness and the love of God our Savior toward man appeared, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He SAVED us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior, that having been justified by His grace we should become heirs according to the hope of eternal life."