Carol of the Bells is my favorite secular Christmas song. I love how the beat gets in the body and demands motion, even to the point of stirring the soul. Even my little one loves that song, and is usually dancing wildly by the middle. Who doesn't want to throw their cares away and embrace all the season promises: family/friends, special homemade goodies, beautifully ornamented homes, presents!
"One seems to hear words of good cheer from everywhere filling the air..."
I think that's always the hope, but it never works out that way, does it? I encounter more grumpy, agitated people every Christmas, because suddenly, there's an expectation of good cheer, kindness and generosity that isn't expected the rest of the year. All year long, no one cares about their fellow man, and now because it's Christmas, I'm supposed to give of myself, when no one has given to me, when no one cares about how I'm doing? Bah, humbug.
Tis the season when the expectation rarely matches the actual life of real people. Tis the season where people feel immense pressure to perform to the standards Christmas carols and movies have presented and wind up coming up short. If I had to finish that sentence, I'd say Tis the season for inadequacy.
Not enough money, not enough time, not enough love or support, not enough generosity or kindness, too much disappointment or feeling too disappointed in, too much pressure, too many places to be and not enough self to go around. It's enough to crush the Christmas spirit we once delighted in and make us decide we want nothing to do with the whole season. I know this year, it's been super difficult for me to feel any kind of Christmas spirit because we have more month than money, and with the pressure to celebrate extravagantly, it has made me feel even my best efforts would be inadequate, and has left me asking why bother at all? Like many other days, there is no special event, no friends or extended family, no special food, a few small gifts for my little one and the rest of the day to focus on how inadequate my "celebration" is.
And then, there's Jesus, and the story of his birth. Looking at the circumstances surrounding his coming, many of us would label them as inadequate too; the King of Kings being born into lowly conditions, to a peasant girl, in a raised home and then placed in a manger because there was no guest rooms available, and the only place he could rest safely would have been downstairs with the animals, his first moments being filled with the smell of sheep and horses. His first guests were shepherds, because while the host of Heaven proclaimed his arrival, the rest of the world was preoccupied. (Luke 2) Word spread of what the shepherds had heard and seen, but it still took the Magi nearly 2 years to find him and recognize that he was THE child the world had been waiting for (Matthew 2.) There was no birthing suite waiting his arrival, no decked our nursery, no silver spoon or noble title, no velvet pillow for him to rest his head, no princes or kings to shower him with gifts. Seems like a very inadequate setting for the Savior to be born into. And yet, rather than become frustrated with everyone else's attitudes and expectations of what he would be and decide it wasn't worth it, he embraced the nature of his circumstances and came just as one of us would have. He would not let what others would dictate as adequate and worthy of celebration keep him from showing up.
So this Christmas, I encourage you, whether you deem your expressions of love to be adequate, whether you fear or have been disappointed, whether people have been kind and generous this season to you or not, show up. If you decide to wallow instead over a pint of lo-mein while watching Die Hard, no one would blame you, and many would probably join you in your humbugness, but today is a day worthy of celebration. For behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all people. Today, we commemorate the birth of the Messiah, who in the city of David came to us as one of us so that he could later die for us and rise again so that we would not face the pain of death. This is worth celebrating with our whole being, as the angels praised God on that day saying, "Glory to God in the highest, and peace to those on whom His favor rests."
His favor rests on you, so my Christmas wish to you is His deepest peace, releasing you from all feelings of inadequacy so that you might embrace His attitude, and show up to the day full of joy. Merry Christmas.
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