the season of advent always brings with it an abundance of busyness, just prior to Christmas. there is the excitement of being with family, the stress of planning parties and making travel plans, and the comfort in decorating the home and cooking familiar meals. when i finally cross these tasks off my list, i like to relish in the anticipation, the pending hope, that maybe once again, despite my undeserving soul, a gift too good to be true is about to be given. a gift we can’t wrap our arms or minds around.

every year, we wake up on the 25th of this month and celebrate the life of God as man. there is no other reason for this holiday season. God communicated words to his people up until Christ’s birth, words of truth. but then God’s Word actually came and had a form, a body to embody and fulfill the words before it. there were no longer just words of truth and life being spoken, they were being lived. they were breathing. God was born and is locked in time, a time marked in our history books by certain rulers and governments. it’s proof that some of us need to believe it.

God could have met us in our lives in any other way. He could have come displaying his full power. and yet He decided to come into our world in the exact way that we do, as an utterly helpless, defenseless, powerless, dependent human being. so that we can’t say He doesn’t feel what we feel, or know what we know, or that He hasn’t experienced loneliness or laughter or temptation or illness or sorrow. He has, and He loves that much that He would subject himself to such a painful world that we have managed to create.

some can’t or won’t accept this gift. and honestly, it’s not easy to be the receiver of this holy baby. it seems too good to be true that we are given this life-changing invitation, over and over, even if we reject it the first thousand times. this gift of forgiveness, grace, freedom, salvation, and a future, endless life in heaven. but if we study this Word, throw our logic and time and emotion and soul into seeking the truth of it, we will find it, and be greeted with nothing less than pure joy.

i wish you a deep sense of joy this Christmas season as we celebrate, seek and worship this baby who saves us all.