Let’s Embrace It

There’s a home in our town that rivals Clark Griswold’s in “National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation.” We drive by each year to see if there are any new additions of lights, inflatables, or displays. I wouldn’t be surprised if air traffic control uses it as a landmark offering on flight path descents during the month of December. It is the epitome of the Christmas spirit captured in the form of Christmas lights.

 
One year, as we made our exit from this jubilant holiday vision, I looked over at a house about a block away. It looked like they opened the front door, plugged in a string of lights into the outlet on the porch, threw the string at the nearest bush, and walked back in the house.

 
I sipped my coffee this morning, the room lit only by the twinkling lights of our Christmas tree. Light touches the glittery Old World Christmas ornaments and brings them to life with sparkle. During the Christmas season, this is my favorite time of the day. The house is silent. Just me, my coffee, the tree, and my thoughts. 

I can’t help feeling a little like that string of lights haphazardly tossed into the yard. I long for these days to pass slowly, but they are filled to the brim with muchness. Activities to plan or participate in for our children. Holiday menus to discuss. Who do we have left on our shopping list? Loose ends at work must all be tied up in a tidy bow before the holidays.

 
All of those things are wonderful like the beautifully lit up house. But too much of it can leave us feeling like the inhabitants of the little house that threw the string out the door and called it good. The season that we long to savor, embodying hope, peace, love and joy, becomes a menagerie of lists, to dos and hustle.

 
In Matthew 2:9, the wise men departed on their journey to see Jesus, and “the star which they had seen in the East went before them, till it came and stood over where the young Child was.” 

In the middle of the muchness, that’s where I want my focus to remain. I want my heart to be intertwined with my Creator. I want for my schedule and my priorities to not detract from the celebration of the greatest Gift of all. 

I lamented to my husband my desire for snail-paced, calm, ‘chestnuts roasting on a open fire’ days. He held my gaze for a moment and replied, “Maybe you just need to embrace it.” 

Maybe I just need to embrace it. 

Embrace His hope. We can be joyful in hope and patient in afflictions while faithful in prayer (Romans 12:2). He will come again and receive us unto himself (John 14:3). What a hope-filled remembrance. He calls us His own, and He has prepared a place for us. 

Embrace it. Embrace His peace in the middle of chaotic circumstances. He keeps us in perfect peace when our eyes are fixed on Him (Isaiah 26:3). 

Embrace it. Embrace His love. He is love. Nothing we can do can separate us from that magnanimous love (Romans 8:38).

Embrace it. Embrace His joy. All the angels did at the knowledge of the birth of Jesus was worship. Joyful, joyful, let’s worship and adore Him (Luke 2:8-20)! 

Let’s be like the house encompassed with lights in our souls, shining like beacons for Him. Beacons reflecting His hope, peace, love, and joy. 

Let’s embrace it.