The Holy Days of Christmas

Deck the halls with boughs of holly…fa. la. la. la.la.

I love Christmas music, but I have been around long enough to know that the happy lyrics often don’t match the place we find ourselves in. While we are trying to cram an old fashioned Christmas into our crooked broken lives, it’s sometimes hard to see the real meaning of the holidays.

Yesterday I sat with a friend as she shared her pain. In her moment, this was not a deck the halls with boughs of holly time…but it was indeed a holy time, this is her holy moment. I encouraged her that God declares our hardships as holy times of being shaped, being transformed, becoming more fully alive in Him. These hard things, are holy things.

I was reminded of what really happened on that silent night many years ago. A Savior was born to bring wholeness to us. A Savior was born that we could have relationship with the God who created us. A Savior was born to wipe the tear stained faces and heal the broken hearts of those caught in the fray of life…again. He came to be a few specific things:

• Wonderful Counselor
• Everlasting Father
• Mighty God
• Prince of Peace  Isa 9:6

In the Message it reads like this:

• Amazing Counselor
• Strong God
• Eternal Father
• Prince of Wholeness

As I think on that last one, Prince of Peace or Prince of Wholeness, something happens in me. Hope springs up in the middle of  the December cold.  Peace settles right in the middle of my to-do lists. ( yes I said, lists, as in plural !) Wholeness and Peace  are words that speak to the hurts in our lives, speak to a holy purpose that is far greater then our temporal happiness.

l marvel at the way his plan, the plan to turn us and change us, to uproot us and replant us…is so different than my plan of the comfy cozy little life. His plan is to draw us into a holy experience with Himself, a holy place, a sacred journey, a place where his peace begins to permeate every part of us no matter what we lost, how we have been treated, or what life has dealt us. As Job said in the face of loss, ” I know my Redeemer Lives”.

Today is December 14th. In ten days the shopping will cease, the gifts will get wrapped, and the day will be celebrated.  I am challenging myself and those who follow this blog…to open up the Gift of Christmas. I am encouraging you to Look UP, Look in, and Look Out for the next ten days.

• Look Up focus on the truth as written in God’s Word. ( I will post a verse or passage each day)
• Look In by asking God to forgive you for any area that gets revealed to you as you look up. Ask Him to make this  a holy holiday.
• Look Out by choosing to be a blessing each day to someone on life’s weary road.

The holidays began on a silent night thousands of years ago in a stable. On that night our savior was born.

Savior: One who saves another from harm or danger

Jesus came to save the people ( us) from the harm and danger of ourselves. our sins. He came to set things straight, to bring health and wholeness. He came that we would no longer walk in darkness. See Isa 9

Join me tomorrow and for the next ten days on the journey to making this holiday a holy season.

Merry! Changed! His!

Debbie