Picture this... All year long you make sure that you celebrate the birthdays of your close friends and family. You make a point not to forget these special dates ind your loved ones' lives and you anually plan elaborate parties, make their favorite meals, and lavish them with cards and presents. Now, finally, it's your birthday. You come home expecting to find all those that are near and dear to your heart, but instead you find nobody. Where are they? They're all too busy preparing your birthday events that they've totally forgotten about YOU.
I stopped to think today. I wonder if Jesus feels that way sometimes... Like we've forgotten His birthday. We are too consumed with shopping, baking, decorating, present- wrapping, tree-trimming, gift-giving, family get-togethers, and sending out Christmas cards that it's SO easy to not even reflect on the birth of the saviour of the world. He shows us His life CONSTANTLY, yet we can't take time out of elaborate Christmas festivites to honor Him as the guest of honor.
I started to think about all of this today when I ventured out into the Black Friday mayhem. I wanted to go to Target to look at a few sale items and I honestly could not MOVE in the store. Every single aisle was congested with floods of people and people were running into one another. Cross words were being exchanged among strangers as they were ramming into each other. It was so packed in that stupid store that there were no more carts available. That whole scene was ridiculous.
As Alison and I took our babies out to the car, we were completely frazzled.
I'm sick of cheap prices on DVD's or toys or clothing (or whatever else it might be) carrying so much weight in the holiday season. Obviously I have people to buy for and I love getting a great deal on things, but it's not worth it to me to save a few bucks if I have to get trampled on to do it. Society as a whole has commercialized this precious holiday and it no longer seems to be about anything but materialistic junk. I'm the worst offender here. It's way too easy to give our holiday shopping and our own personal wish list precedence over the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords.
If it was John's birthday (or the birthday of another family member), I would drop everything to ensure that his day was as special as it could possibly be. I would never forget to acknowledge him. In fact, I would fall all over myself to tell him how special he is to me. This brings me to the final question... Am I putting forth equal (or superior) efforts to honor Jesus' birthday? I'm ashamed to say that I'm not.
I want this Christmas season to be different. I'm not going to sweat the small stuff and stress over what gifts to buy for people. Instead, I'm going to channel all of my energy into remembering the great GIFT that was ever given to all of mankind. This is so much easier said that done but I'll remember the initial question that sparked this whole post... How would I feel if everyone I love forgot MY birthday?
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