Friday, December 31, 2010

Christmas reminders





Hooray for Christmas! Last year was its own special thing, but I kind of count this one as Noah's "real" first Christmas. We got to get all dressed up and go to the Christmas Eve service. We got to watch him tear into his presents. We got to go to Great-Grandpa and Grandma's farm for the day (complete with Noah's first taste of lefse!).


Having a baby totally changes your life. Duh. One amazing aspect of that is how much I have learned and my thinking and faith has been shaped by being a mom and having this wonderful little person in our life. Here are some Christmas examples.

5 Christmas reminders from my baby (I mean one-year old)

1. Be excited about the good things! Sometimes I think we get so hung up on the "Christmas has gone commercial/the holidays are so stressful" train that we forget to just be excited and celebrate. Good food is worth being excited about. Pretty things are worth being excited about. Family is worth being excited about. And most of all Jesus is worth being excited about. Celebrate the good things!

2. Enjoy getting and opening the gifts along with what is inside. It is great entertainment to watch a one year old open presents.

3. Who gave you the gift is more important than the gift itself. When all was said and done, Noah crawled over all of his new toys and into my lap to snuggle. Corey said, "all he really wants is us."

4. The Christmas story really is a wonderful story. A new baby, a family--this is what God chose to center His rescue plan on. How beautiful is that when you really stop to think about it? Having a baby and a little family of my own brings it to a new level. Even though I have heard it many, many times, I am so thankful that the Lord continues to show me new things and touch my heart each year as I take time to focus on that amazing, true story. And can I just say that no, I don't think Mary should be worshipped or prayed to, but she totally rocks. Giving birth to and raising the Son of God--c'mon now Protestants, let's give the girl some credit. Oh that we could all truly believe and live that "nothing is impossible with God" as she did.

5. Babies (I mean one year olds) are so approachable and just have a way of breaking down barriers between people. We adults think so much about how someone will react, or how it will make me look, or if I really have the time to do that thing that doesn't seem like it would mean very much. I wonder how much we miss because of it. However, most people will stop and take the time to say how cute a baby looks on Christmas, or remark what a special time this is for a family, even if it is someone you have never met before. That struck me this year with two reminders. Number 1: we should be willing to reach out to each other more. Number 2: the God of the universe became a person, and a baby at that--approach Him.

1 comment:

  1. Amen! Those are good reminders and good points! So obvious, yet we let them slip away into our "busy" lives...

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