And then, Christmas

It's good to be back at the blog this morning! The past two weeks have been an absolute blur of packing, saying goodbyes, and moving out of our house twice (again - our third and fourth moves since August!) to the storage unit we are renting and into our new apartment. We have had many very long days and short nights, physically exhausting trips of carrying loads of things up and down a flight of stairs (we are on the second floor), frustrations of trying to get our internet and computer up and running, and mainly just a multitude of adjustments. We are adjusting from a large, two-story house to an apartment (it seems every tine I turn around, I say "Where am I going to put THAT?") , from living in quieter area to a city, and from knowing our way around with ease to having to figure out where places are and how to navigate our new surroundings.

In the midst of all this, we had been in our new location for 4 days when we got the news that our daughter who was expecting their fourth child the very end of December was in labor. "Miss M" was born on December 12 and we were thrilled to welcome our 10th beautiful grandchild. Because she was a little early and on the small side, she developed jaundice. I was delighted to be able to go and spend a few days helping our our daughter and her husband with their new blessing as well as their 3 other daughters. Thankfully, "Miss M" is now doing fine.

Now I am home in a mostly unpacked apartment, and somehow it is 3 days before Christmas! To say this Christmas is like no other for us is not an exaggeration. Until a couple days ago, we had no tree or decorations up. I have not done my Christmas shopping. I still have not baked one single thing (and this is coming from someone who has been known to bake up to 10 different varieties of Christmas cookies in years gone by.) Since my husband is not pastoring and we do not yet have a church home, it is also the first year in almost 25 years that I have not been busy hosting Christmas Open Houses, ladies fellowships, deacon board dessert parties, youth group Christmas activities, caroling fellowships and a host of other things.

In other words, it doesn't seem much like Christmas around here. It certainly is not what I would have expected this Christmas to be like this time last year.

But as I usually do in December, I have been re-reading and meditating on Scripture verses and various aspects relating to the birth of Jesus. And this year, I was struck by this one thing: Christmas - the birth of Jesus - probably wasn't what Mary expected, either.

I love Luke 1:38 which records Mary's response to the angel who gave her the news: "Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word." When we say "yes" to the Lord, as we did back in 1989 when He called us to the ministry, and as Mary did that remarkable day that the angel appeared to her, we usually have in our minds a way things are going to go.

Somehow, I can't help but think that when Mary said those words - and meant them - that when it came near her time to deliver her baby and she found out she had to travel to a far-off place because of a census that had been ordered, she might have been thinking, "Are you sure, God? You really mean for me to endure this trip right now, in my condition?"

And when it came time for her to give birth, instead of being at home with her mother in a familiar and relatively safe environment, she had to give birth for the first time alone, in a humble, dirty stable meant for animals, not newborn babies.

No, that first Christmas probably didn't go as Mary expected either. But as I reflect this Christmas on the wonderful news that Jesus Christ was born, as I held my own newborn granddaughter I could only thank my Heavenly Father for sending His own Son as the perfect gift so that she and all of us who place our trust in Him can have our sins forgiven and a personal relationship with Him.

The next couple of days as you rush around trying to finish up all your Christmas preparations - as I will be doing, too! - remember that it isn't in all the expected trimmings of Christmas that we find true peace and joy. It is in remembering and rejoicing that Jesus left heaven and was born as a helpless little baby so that we might have life.

Merry Christmas!
Kathi