CHRISTMAS COUNTDOWN 3

(This is a reposting of a post originally put up on Dec. 24.)

Imagine! I almost forgot to include this final post today.

I am living a sort of "hybrid day," answering my business phone, but doing so from home where I was finishing off the baking of a batch of cookies for some Christmas giveaways and getting ready for a quick trip to my sister's later. Like many of you, we'll be spending time with family over the next day or so. This is good, but much more formally organized than we usually are with these same people, so a bit unnatural. In some regards, I am more about serendipity and spontaneity than you might suspect—family time is one of those regards.

I suppose that each year, the Christmas holiday and its season brings us at least one new thing, something we have not enjoyed or meditated on before. For me this year, such a thought has been the realization that I do not see Christ well enough. As I mentioned a couple of weeks ago, it makes for an interesting study when we read the Christmas accounts with eyes toward those who saw Jesus instantly for who He was. Some of these had a direct heads-up: Mary, Joseph, the shepherds. Others were more cryptically informed: Simeon, Anna. Either way, their eyes were trained in ways that mine so often are not.

How can I get there? By cleaning up the clutter.

Some of you have told me about taking a simpler approach to the holiday this year. Part of this has been by necessity of the economic environment in which we live, but others have done this by conscious choice. And part of your way to do this has been to back out of some of the traditionally crazy aspects of the holiday. Good for you! I sincerely hope you find your Christmas to be a more merry one for this reason. More sincerely I hope that this cleaning up of the clutter allows you to see Jesus more readily. Really seeing Him is the first step to so many good things.

Merry Christmas to you all! Hope to see you and sing with you on Saturday.