Finding Joy for Real
Can Joy be found in shopping centres and Santa photos and baking cookies?
This season gets busy.
I could disdain the busyness, but I have a sense it’s kind of all part of it. It’s the community preparing, preparing the way for Jesus birth. We all have a sense of a special day to be celebrated, one that promises joy and peace and good-will towards all men. Yet we are not there yet. We anticipate the arrival of the King.
This busyness, or eagerness, isn’t a sin in itself. It’s the desire to be ready, to be prepared to light our candles and to make room for heaven on earth. Even Mary prepared for Jesus’s burial. She had perfume that was expensive she lavished his very feet with it. She was extravagant in her devotion to Jesus. The stable Jesus was born in, was as simple as they come. The wise man brought extravagant gifts. The shepherds didn’t have gifts but had faith.
The danger in this season, is actually making one component of the story, become the “be all of the season.”
The presents are part of the story.
The celebration is part of the story.
Neither are the main event.
The nativity story is made of both simple and extravagant things. Simplifying Jesus’s birth and being extravagant in our worship both have a place in the story. Jesus’s birth was simple, he was born in a manager. But He is also our Savour King and we come with grateful and thankful hearts towards him.
Both are acceptable if your heart toward Jesus, and what comes out of that expression, are deep true joy.
Now back to busyness. I know busyness I have five children! I want them to experience the wonder of Christmas, have beautiful memories, and grow up seeing my faith and love for Jesus. But I am also a control freak who likes a little perfection and my Achilles heel can be task-focused rather than joy- and love- and kindness-focused.
So this Christmas I have three suggestions to help people like me!
1.) Take the gap:
Savour the moment of the season wherever you can. Sit in nature which includes your backyard. Pray in gaps of the day: the car ride to work, the bathroom visit, the moments before you’re out of bed. Keep your heart open to hearing God in any moment you can.
2. Breathe deep the things that bring you joy:
That thunderstorm. That sunset. Buying a present for your spouse. Wrapping a surprise for the kids. It isn’t the cost of the thing, it’s the thought.
3. What doesn’t get done, doesn’t matter:
Being content and happy is more important to your family than a perfect menu / table/ or gift moment. So yes, you can find joy in Santa photos (I know I certainly do, they are tokens of miracles of babies and children in my life that God has blessed me with, every year together, more than I deserve). Joy is in the shopping centre. I close my eyes and listen to the Christmas music I practise walking slow and being kind. Here is my community, the ones God loves most.
All of the above makes me feel joy. How important Christmas is to me. That Jesus was born as he was, for the purpose he was, is extravagant to me.
So I pray that you sense real joy that your good works in this season are done from. I pray that we don’t miss the true meaning of Christmas.
#truemeaningofchristmas #christmas #joy #littlethings #busyness