A Wish For Your Imperfect Christmas

Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed— in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. 1 Corinthians 15:51-52

Imagine if snowflakes were wishes we could send one another? Imagine each unique flake, a pure white reminder of of His love? Of His mercies... of our gifts, falling from Heaven? What is it about snow that entices our imagination, heightens the senses, rekindles within us a flicker of childhood joy?

Imagine that beautiful Christmas tree, a memory of everlasting grace, of One so willing to take our place. What is it about that pristine triangle shaped Evergreen, that inspires our hopes, dreams; causes us to remember a lifetime of Christmas wishes.

Christmastime, like any other time, is not meant to be perfect. Remember that, my friends. Maybe you've no parties to attend, no family close by, no presents this year.

  Maybe, Christmas feels like a bully that barges into your life, while you're still picking up pieces from yesterday's heartache. Maybe, Christmas magnifies your loneliness, your empty womb, your broken heart. Maybe, Christmas feels just like the last straw, a mockery of your current circumstance. 

You're tired of the Nativity scene, and those who are arguing over the details. Tired of hearing everybody's opinions, or at least the fighting over who is right and wrong. You are weary from all of the politically correctness surrounding a season that strays dangerously far from simply adoring Him.

But wait...I promise, there is hope for tomorrow. If God allows tomorrow to come, will He not be there? Is He not a God of His word? We adore Him every day, and more importantly, friend, He adores us. See, He is not distracted by our shortcomings, or our waywardness. He came because He loves; is Love.

So your if Christmas falls short of perfect, this year, will you remember something? 

Our perfect lives will come. Not now, but later. In the twinkling of an eye...

 For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. Therefore encourage one another with these words.

1 Thessalonians 4:16-18

Friend, I don't know your circumstances, but I know the One who does. 

My wish for you this season is that you would know the One who is a shelter in every season. That when mother, father, husband, wife and child fail...and all will- in due season, because we do. It is in our genes- We fail one another, in our humanity. But, my wish for you is that, instead of looking at all that is not good, you would cast your eyes upon the One who promises His presence, long after the presents are forgotten, after the tinsel taken down from the tree and after the last decoration packed away. He remains. He longs for you to see Him. Beyond the manger, beyond the Star, beyond the stories...He longs to restore your soul. Just sit in the quietness of His presence. Or stand in the snow and listen. Let the snowflakes remind you of His love.

Wishing you peace this holiday season.

Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel. Isaiah 7:14