Oh my glasses, it is almost December 1st. Where has this year gone? My life seems to be on this perpetual fast forward motion but somehow the holidays always go in slow motion for me. I am not sure if it is the joy of the season or the sorrow of being a single mom that slows time for me. Maybe it is a compilation of both. I value family time much more during this season than any other time, yet I always feel more alone. It is a weird oxymoron feeling.
Yesterday I started pulling out all of our Christmas decorations. I love decorating for Christmas. I always find joy and peace in the twinkling lights, snowmen, and decor that bring upon fond memories of Christmas' past .
In setting up the nativity scene, the ivory porcelain figures seemed too fragile and pristine to survive life in the real world. How do some people get through the holidays? How did Mary get through that first Christmas? Life hadn't turned out the way she expected, either. Over the previous nine months, has she ever thought, I just can't do this! It's not supposed to be this way...Granted, the visitation of an angel has assured her than her undesirable circumstances were God-ordained and a sign of His favor, but even so, she had not been given a choice in the matter. Her only choice was in her response. What was it that angel said to her? "The Lord is with you...do not be afraid" (Luke 1:28,30). His announcement echoed Isaiah's prophecy: "The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel" (Isaiah 7:14). Immanuel means "God with us." Immanuel; you are not alone. How tightly did Mary hold that promise?
Two thousand years ago, Jesus did not come to us as a fragile porcelain figure. He entered into the messiness of life in a dirty stable as one who was vulnerable and needy, who felt pain, who cried. He grew as one who would become "despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering" (Isaiah 53:3). He lived as one who would be misunderstood, and He experienced loss, betrayal, abandonment and suffering beyond the scope of human imagination. Facing the cross, He ultimately said under great duress, "Yet not my will, but yours be done" (Luke 22:42). Love entered into and chose brokenness. "This is my body given for you" (Luke 22:19). That Jesus still chooses to share in my brokenness. In my own limited measure of suffering, He wraps me in His blanket of compassion, whispers "fear not" and invites me to taste of His grace.
This morning, I noticed the nativity scene has been rearranged, disregarding my efforts to display an artistically balanced panorama. Now the figurines were all clumped in the middle, crowding the manger. "Who messed with the nativity scene?" I asked inquisitively.
My nine-year-old proudly and matter-of-factly owned the deed. "I did! They were too far away from baby Jesus. They needed to be closer so they could see him!" He got what I had missed.
I have decided to keep his rearrangement; it is a reminder for my to position myself to see Jesus in the center of Christmas and in the center of our lives. Everything in our lives may be rearranged and in flux, except the main thing: Immanuel, God with us. We were not alone. God condescended to meet us in the broken places of our lives.
God drew near to us in Jesus so that we could draw near to Him through Jesus. He was rejected so that we could be accepted; broken so that we could be made whole; suffered death on the cross so that we could receive the gift of eternal life.
