For reasons I don’t entirely understand this one day of the year seems to compress a lifetime of thoughts and feelings. There is this pressure — from where it comes I don’t know — that the day must somehow be perfect, that it must recapture some lost ideal of what Christmas is supposed to be. The anxiety builds up over what to buy, what to prepare, who will be there, and how to respond to this, that, or the other possible scenario on the day.
… My faith brought me a new appreciation for this time of year. Instead of being a time to anticipate anxiously, it became, year by year, a time of reconciliations, of showing appreciation for each other, of healing certain misunderstandings. It has become for me a time of awe — of seeing the impossible become possible.
This is how Catez Stevens at All Things 2 All begins her reflection of how Christmas has been transformed in her life, by understanding what happened in Bethlehem long ago. Immanuel — God with us!
Take the time to read the whole thing, and then, look to God who lived with us to transform your Christmas, and your life.
