Christmas

Growing up I'll admit that as every other little girl on planet earth I was consumed with opening presents on Christmas morning! Everything climaxed to that moment! The Christmas decorations put lovingly in place a month beforehand, the Christmas music playing on the radio every time we hopped in the car to go somewhere, the irresistible scents wafting from the kitchen as mom baked tray after tray of cookies.

I COULDN'T WAIT! It was ALWAYS agony for all who were age ten and below to wait for the christened time of present opening on Christmas day! It seemed mom and dad always drug breakfast out much longer than necessary!;)

Of course as I grew older and matured in my love for the Lord I became much more mature about this whole ordeal! I began to realize deep within me that Christmas was NOT entirely about the presents at all! It was about worshiping and adoring the baby in the manger right alongside the wise men. It was about being filled with exceedingly great joy that the King of heaven had come to earth. It was about giving!

I thought that I had entirely grasped this concept and passed "The TRUE Reason For Christmas" test with flying colors....until this year! I'd NEVER before been asked to wait two whole weeks to open presents...I'd never before been asked to celebrate Christmas on a different day then Christmas...until this year! You see as families grow schedules become VERY complicated!!! This year we (the Rehm Ranch) found ourselves trying to juggle a brother coming back from a missions trip on Christmas Day, and a sister who'd just had a baby and wasn't quite up to Christmas on Christmas day yet! Thus we looked at the calendar and decided when we could actually fit Christmas into our schedule if it wasn't to be on Christmas day! Two weeks later was the agonizing wait that stared us in the face! At first I gave my faith lip service and vocalized that it isn't about the presents, or the specific date, but rather Jesus Christ and His unfathomable love for the human race...in effect Christmas could be celebrated on ANY day! Right?! I stuck behind this view courageously until Christmas day was bearing down on us and everybody else was talking about their plans while I kept having to repeat how our Christmas was going to be ENTIRELY different this year! It was in this place that I found myself grumbling and complaining and not to happy about having Christmas in January! I was expressing this to my mom today when the Lord struck me with the truth that I was being self centered! I suddenly realized that it was much more important that we all be together for Christmas than that Christmas be on Christmas day! It also has challenged me to focus on the REAL meaning of Christmas! That meaning is displayed for the whole world to see in the name Jesus--which means "Yahweh is salvation!" WOW! Now that's something worth celebrating!

Our pastor said something at church on Sunday that stuck with me like glue this week! "The most important thing in your life right now is that you be fascinated with Jesus Christ! The news, sports scores, how your hair looks, how much money you have in your bank account...none of that matters if you are not fascinated with Jesus Christ!" --That's not a direct quote, but rather what I can remember and filling in the blanks!--

My goal this Christmas is to be fascinated with Jesus Christ and rejoicing in the truth of His name "Yahweh is salvation!" It doesn't matter if I get one single present if my gaze is not fixed on that Baby in a manger, that Savoir upon a cross, and that King triumphant returning one day very soon! May you take the time this Christmas to be fascinated with Jesus Christ...for Yahweh IS salvation!

10 When they saw the star,
they rejoiced with exceedingly great joy
11 And when they had come into the house,
they saw the young Child with Mary His mother,
and fell down and worshiped Him.
And when they had opened their treasures,
they presented gifts to Him:
gold, frankincense, and myrrh.
Matthew 2:10-11