deadlines and morning inspirations

Every so often our church has to submit an article for a local paper and seeing that I seem to be the "Christmas Fairy" around here Rich asked me if I'd take care of this month and "make it Christmas themed" he says... This was Friday, the article was due on Monday by noon. I thought about it, and then got busy, and then on Sunday it hit me that it was due and I didn't know what to say... 6am Monday I wake up hit by inspiration and without a pad, pen, or tape recorder to help me remember... Oi! So I got up and hurried through my morning routine and spent the entire commute writing and re-writing the article in my head.

So I get to the office early, start up the computer and get typing... unintentionally delaying small things like staff meetings and such, but I ended up with a decent article, that Rich approved with only one correction (minor typo).

See, the inspiration is this: Why Christmas? What makes Christmas the most wonderful time of the year? Why do these days at the end of the year hold such importance for all of us? Surely it can’t be just because of the material benefit; we have access to that all year. There must be something larger that causes us to look forward to this season all year long. What is that pull that makes us long for Christmas?

Christmas is about Home. There must be a reason we start to sing along with Bing Crosby as he starts crooning out “I’ll be home for Christmas…?” When it first came out it in 1943 it resonated in the hearts of a country in the midst of a war when so many fathers and sons, husbands and fathers were thousands of miles away. They identified with the deep desire to be at home with family. Why? Because the first Christmas was about a family. It was the creation of a Perfect Father who loved His children so much that He chose to identify with them and be part of a family and demonstrate that love in a tangible way. Home is more than a place. It is the knowledge that you are loved and accepted, cherished and wanted. No one can provide that better than the Perfect Father that created humanity just so that He could have relationship with us.

Christmas is because we need Hope. Recently the children’s book “The Polar Express” was made into a movie. The theme of the story is that all you have to do is believe to make Christmas real. How can you believe if you have no hope? The Savior of the world was born to provide that hope in something bigger than us. Because of His birth, we have hope for a life beyond this one. Because of that “Silent Night” hope was born on the earth in touchable form. We are promised, “In his name the nations will put their hope." Even His name Jesus means “Savior.” We are saved from God’s wrath because Jesus and have a hope that we can have relationship with the Lord who loves us.

Christmas exists because of Holy. The magic of Christmas is that The Creator of the World became a human baby. Holiness covered in skin. Majesty enrobed in humanity. The feet that walked on streets of gold were suddenly wrapped in swaddling cloths and laid in a humble Hebrew stable. We can’t forget just how far Jesus came in order to rescue us from sin. That sweet baby boy was God Almighty, holy and perfect. That is the Christmas miracle that “God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” John 3:16 NIV.

This season draws the soul of each of us because it makes us long for a real home, makes us believe in a real hope, and remember real holiness. May you experience the realities of these three this Christmas.