This time of year has been very rough for me. In the past, instead of looking at all that I am blessed with, I have been reminded of what…or more to the point who was missing.
This year, I have to be honest…I fell into a depression again. With all of the mindset work that I’ve done over the past year, it didn’t last quite as long as it usually does. Christmas is just different when you don’t have little kids running around, excited for Santa to arrive.
The other day, I was walking home from work, and I was worshiping as I was enjoying unseasonably warm weather in Philadelphia. I don’t remember what song I heard, but all of a sudden I thought about the birth of Jesus in a completely different way.
Christians celebrate Jesus’ birth…as we should. Were He not born, we wouldn’t have Easter where He paid for our sins on the cross. At Easter, we remember His sacrifice, but do we honor His sacrifice at Christmas?
Let’s unpack this for a moment. God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit know that a sacrifice needs to be made for man, because we are all sinners due to free will. So, Jesus says, “Okay, I’ll go.” He knows that he will have to be crucified. He knows he’ll be betrayed. We all know these things. But have you ever taken a minute to think of how He felt when He made the decision to leave Heaven for 30 years?
HE LEFT HEAVEN FOR 30 YEARS, BY CHOICE, TO BE REJECTED, MOCKED AND MURDERED.
I mean, some of us can’t go 30 minutes without looking at our cell phones. Jesus left paradise for 30 years to take on your sin.
Seriously. Let that sink in for a minute.
When I really got a hold of that, everything I was sad about vanished. How dare I be sad about stupid commercialism? How dare I not be humbled and gracious?
Let’s fast forward to today. So, as I mentioned above, Christmas is different when you don’t have littles running around, excited about Santa’s arrival. Some of the magic is just missing. Today, though, I saw the magic, passed down to the next generation. I saw my adult niece and nephews…their hearts, their generosity, their excitement at GIVING…and it took everything inside of me not to cry.
If you had a rough Christmas…and I’m not going to say that mine was perfect, because it was far from perfect, especially the last few hours…take a moment to reflect on two things. First, reflect not only on the gift that God gave when He sent Jesus to earth…but reflect on a love that is so deep that it chose to leave heaven for 30 years.
I’ll leave you with this. If you are living a good life, and you sow good seeds, you will then reap rewards. So many times I’ve questioned whether I’ve been a good role model for my niece and nephews–God knows I’ve messed up a LOT in their sight–but today I saw that all of the good things that I’ve sown were seen and replicated.
I am a blessed woman. No one can change that.
Deneen White 