Simplicity of Christmas
As we come around the corner of the last days before Christmas, perhaps you are like me, and have so much to do still before the magic can happen. All of the hustle and bustle of this time of the year can sometimes stress me out.
We are two weeks away and I still have not even drug the Christmas totes out of the garage to decorate. Not one present is wrapped, in fact only a few have even been purchased. Christmas cards have not been mailed. And with time pressing in, looks like the annual Adams Family Newsletter will probably not be written.
It is no wonder with the rush, and long to-do lists and the big crowds and long checkout lines, that some of us become good ole holiday Grinch’s. The joy is quickly stolen as we rush around, running here and there. It is easy to become “Grinchie” when traffic is backed up or there is no parking spot in sight for miles.
Listen to the words of Dr. Seuss:
“Every Who
Down in Who-Ville
Liked Christmas a lot…”“But the Grinch,
Who lived just north of Who-Ville,
Did NOT!”“For,
Tomorrow, he knew…
…All the Who girls and boys
Would wake bright and early. They’d rush for their toys!
And then! Oh, the noise! Oh, the Noise! Noise! Noise! NoiseThat’s one thing he hated! The NOISE! NOISE! NOISE! NOISE!”
NOISE…Now we are getting to the heart of the matter. There is so much noise around Christmas. From the chatter in the busy malls, to the bell ringing nonstop at the front door of the store, to the singing in the courtyard, all the way down to the ringing, the nonstop ringing, of the cash registers.
There is so much noise in fact that often times we begin to think that Christmas is about the noise. When I find myself closing off and crashing as I think about all of the hustle and bustle and noise … that is when I remember the very same, exact thing that the Grinch discovered…
“Maybe Christmas,” he thought, “doesn’t come from a store.”
“Maybe Christmas…perhaps…means a little bit more!”
That’s right, Christmas isn’t at all about the shopping, or the gift wrapping, or even the decorating. It isn’t about the baking, the parties, the concerts or even finding the perfect gift. Christmas isn’t about the clamor or the noise. It is about simplicity. The simplicity of a babe in a manger.
Luke 2:6,7 “While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the Inn.”
Now, how much more simple could the first Christmas be? No gold, No fine linens, just cloths. No royal cradle, just a manger lined with hay. Not in a warm room in the Inn, but out back with the animals. No hustle, no bustle, no noise. Just simplicity.
If one doesn’t like the noise of Christmas, we call them a Grinch. But honestly, I’m not professing to be a Grinch as much as I am proclaiming to just enjoy the simplicity of the first Christmas. If we would just remember what the true meaning of Christmas was, like the Grinch realized, than we might remember that the joy of Christmas, the love and the peace of Christmas is simple. It is simply Jesus.
As we prepare for the magic of Christmas, may we not forget to keep Christ in CHRISTmas!
Bless you for sharing.