Coming Off The Christmas High

Christmas has quickly fallen into the past. All the cooking, cleaning, wrapping, hosting and more cleaning is behind us. When the last guest leaves, it sometimes feels anticlimactic, doesn’t it? I wonder if it felt that way to the shepherds after they’d climbed back up the hill to their sheep. I wonder if anything would feel that wonderful and amazing again.

People talk about peak experiences. Those amazing, hill top moments when the rest of the world stands still. We can begin to believe life will never be the same again. Then we return to life, and discover how quickly the peak disappears from sight. It can be a tremendous let down.

How do we live in that space? It isn’t the highs and lows that can get to us, it’s the highs and middles, the norms. We’ve just experienced a powerful moment and then we have to go back to “real” life. Christmas can be like that, if we’ve had a good, less family dysfunctional one. We have this great day, meeting the expectation of all the preparation, and then we wake up the next day with just the leftovers and a bag of shredded paper. No wonder some of us keep our decorations up through January (you don’t?)

As a Christian I have had moments where it felt like touching the face of God. Camp experiences can bring some of that. And watching others experience such a high can also bring it on vicariously. We leave the experience believing we will never feel distant from God again, and then we do. Highs are pretty much unsustainable.

Don’t get me wrong, we need these highs. We need these moments of inexpressible joy and contentment if for no other reason than to know such moments are possible. But the laundry still needs doing, job responsibilities still need filling and life goes on down at the bottom of the hill. All those things would be neglected if we stayed on top.

Jesus took Peter, James and John up a mountain where they had such an experience. (Matthew 17) While standing there they saw Jesus in all his Deity, being embraced by Elijah and Moses. Both those men had long been dead to this world, but not in Heaven, and here they stood in their own glorified bodies to minister to Jesus. I always think of how the three disciples felt in the aftermath, but what of the very human Jesus? For just a moment He was in all His glory, and then the moment ended and He was back confined in his human body. Peter suggested they build shelters – whether for the guests or for themselves, we don’t know. But it hints at a desire to stay there on that mountain witnessing such an amazing greatness. But they had to come off the mountain. Jesus had to come down to face death on the cross. That makes my return to “normal life” pale in comparison.

We are told that Moses, after meeting with God “face to face” on Mt. Sinai was left with a face that shone. Everyone could see the result of being physically that close to the Creator of the Universe. And the story goes on to say that the “glory faded” eventually, and Moses covered his face so people couldn’t immediately see he’d gone back to normal. Poor Moses, he’d gone from a mountain top experience to beat them all, and had to return to his unruly and ungrateful Israeli family. (Exodus 34:29-35)

It’s fitting that what follows Christmas is the beginning of a New Year. I’m not one for resolutions: I’m not much better at keeping them than anyone else. But I do like the idea of turning a new leaf, starting out with a fresh slate of days. Part of coming down off the high is learning to live our best lives here in the middle of reality. Whether stepping from a spiritual high, or from some wonderful celebration like Christmas (which can also be a spiritual high), seeking to keep God’s light alive and shining is a great goal. Spending time with God each day can keep that light glowing and carry us through the lows as well as the highs of a new year. As much as we’d like to live in a state of perpetual high, this world just doesn’t afford it. Paul, speaking of Moses’ fading glory, says ours needn’t fade. “We are not like Moses, who would put a veil over his face to prevent the Israelites from seeing the end of what was passing away…Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.” (II Corinthians 3:13-18)

Paul goes on to say that this transformation occurs in the real world, where we “hold this treasure in jars of clay” (II Corinthians 4:7). Our weakness is to remind us that the power comes from God, not us. “Therefore, do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all, So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.” (II Corinthians 4:16-18)

Let’s walk into the New Year open to the Spirit’s leading, so we can continue in our spiritual growth and transformation. Let the joy and beauty of our spiritual highs be a taste of more to come, and fix our eyes on Jesus rather than on the things that would bring us down. Life is lived in breakable, clay jars. Crummy stuff happens in the real world, and we long for a mountain top high. Notice Paul talked about outward and inward. Outwardly life can be unkind. But, with the right focus we can live a mountain top life without the climb. We can experience the transforming life promised. And those internal changes will impact our world. In this New Year, seek to have God fill you with His light and transformation.

Happy New Year.

Fourth Week of Advent 2025

As I waited in line at the post office this week I began talking with the guy in front of me. I learned he was in his 70’s, working at a nearby hospital. He’d left his home in Georgia to fulfill a three year contract, filling a need of the hospital. He had probably 8 large boxes he was mailing. He shared that he has a lot of siblings, and they live all over the country. They get together to celebrate milestone birthdays around different themes that speak to the birthday person. He had pictures from each of their events and he’d made 500 piece crossword puzzles for each sibling’s Christmas present, using a picture from their special 40th birthday party.

However, this was an above and beyond gift. He’d already shipped off a snow globe to each of them, and he was delighted to predict how surprised they’d be to get another gift.  When he finished telling me his story, I said, “you really love giving gifts, don’t you?”  He broke into this huge smile and said, “I love it!” This was why he was still working, to afford to continue bestowing gifts on his family and friends.

I can relate. Gift giving is my love language, or one of them. I love the hunt, looking for things that mean something to each person (or somethings – I often can’t just settle on one gift). This year I had fun with a thematic gift comprised of a lot of smaller gifts. I love giving. I love packaging my giving in beautiful ways. I have a friend who is the master of gift packaging, and I’ve copied a lot of her ideas through the years. I’ve learned that part of the gift is the packaging. And It isn’t all about money spent either. I have enjoyed making gifts over the years, especially when money was tight. This year I made candles.

Not everyone is comfortable receiving gifts. There have been times when my family has suggested we set a one gift limit, or literally one gift by drawing a name. I have a friend whose family does this. But she always gets gifts for everyone, not just her chosen person, and I’d be the same. But that can make some people uncomfortable. As a giver I have to be sensitive to my receivers. It’s lovely to surprise someone with the “perfect” gift (and there really is no such thing as “perfect” anything), but if the giving overwhelms, embarrasses or troubles them, then it isn’t fun. My family knows I just go a little crazy in my giving. They know I am not expecting anything in return. Don’t get me wrong, I love receiving gifts too, but I can be content in just watching others accept my gifts to them.

In this season of giving and receiving we can forget the Greatest Gift – Jesus. If giving isn’t your love language, then buying gifts can be very stressful and one additional chore in an already stressful time. We can get so caught up in the busyness that we lose sight of why we are doing this at all. I love lavishing gifts of all types of things, not all fit in a box. I love cooking and serving and entertaining my loved ones. But it’s all that preparation that can drain us. And then Christmas is just an anxiety filled blur.

I realize the most important gift I can give people is myself. I pray all the time that my family, friends, strangers can see Jesus in me. As I offer love and kindness, consideration and friendship, they can see something in me that might draw them to God. Because that is the most important gift. “We love because He first loved us.”

Ruth Chou Simons, in her book Emmanuel, says, “Don’t we sometimes expect God to be like Santa Claus, delivering all the good to the deserving and somehow ‘getting the memo’ on all our wishes and longings? But our Messiah is no Santa Claus. He doesn’t simply promise to deliver gifts; He promises to be the gift we truly need. How has He provided for you this season? How has the good news of Jesus been the gift your soul needs?” (Italics mine)

Since Christmas celebrates the birth of Jesus, God coming to us as a baby in a manger, the greatest gift we could ever receive, our Christmas should reflect that. For some, receiving God’s gift is extremely hard. They don’t want to open the gift because they aren’t sure how it will impact them – will they never get to have fun again? Will they lose friends because they’ve become “religious”? Will they open the package and find it isn’t what the giver promised? Will they be disappointed? Will it require something from them?  Do they even deserve this gift? Maybe a mistake has been made and this gift isn’t for them.

God’s gift lies unopened by a lot of people. God’s love language is gift giving too. Everything we have came from God, whether we see it or not. But the greatest gift is Jesus, and not just the Person, but what that babe in a manger went on to do for us, so we could be in relationship with God. God doesn’t force His gift onto us. We have to accept the gift and open it. Leaving it under the tree, or packing it away somewhere, like that Chia Pet you never wanted, won’t bring God into your life.  You have to accept and open His gift.

As you finish wrapping those presents and putting them under your tree, remember the true reason we even have this celebration. Pray over the receivers of your gifts, that they will come to receive and open the most important gift of all, Jesus.

Blessings on your week. Merry Christmas!

Emmanuel: an Invitation to Prepare Him Room at Christmas and Always, by Ruth Chou Simons. (Harvest House Publishers, 2022) 

The Third Week of Advent - 2025

 One of the things I love most about Christmas is the music. I could listen to Christmas music all year round. The secular songs are fun, “It’s The Most Wonderful Time of the Year”, “The Christmas Song”, “The Christmas Waltz”. But the sacred music, that is a whole other level. Have you ever wondered at the marvel of hearing “Silent Night” following “Let it Snow” or “Jingle Bells” in store music or on the radio? In a world where we see less and less of the sacred, during Christmas the sacred is all around us.

And what amazing music to be playing out and around us. Sacred Christmas music presents some of the most straight forward lyrics teaching theology. I wonder if people realize what they are hearing? It’s total bombardment of the heart of Christianity. And it’s playing all around us. People complain about Christmas trees in airports and red cups at Starbucks being too biased toward Christian Christmas, needing more balanced focus, including Kwanza and Hanukah. But somehow the music continues on. Once a year God’s message of our need and His solution, blare out for all to hear. Let’s look at some phrases.

From “O Little Town Of Bethlehem

“The hopes and fears of all the years are met in thee tonight…for Christ is born of Mary…How silently, how silently, the wondrous gift is given. So God imparts to human hearts the blessings of His heaven. No ear may hear his coming, but in this world of sin, where meek souls will receive Him still, the dear Christ enters in…O holy child of Bethlehem, descend to us, we pray. Cast out our sin and enter in, be born in us today.”

From “Joy to the World

Joy to the world! the Lord is come;
Let earth receive her King;
Let every heart prepare him room,
And heaven, and heaven, and nature sing.

Joy to the world! the Saviour reigns;
Let men their songs employ;
Repeat, repeat the sounding joy.

No more let sins and sorrows grow,
Nor thorns infest the ground;
He comes to make His blessings flow
Far as the curse is found

He rules the world with truth and grace,
And makes the nations prove
The glories of His righteousness,
And wonders, wonders, of His love.

From “Silent Night”

Silent night, Holy night!
Son of God, love's pure light
Radiant beams from Thy holy face,
With the dawn of redeeming grace,
Jesus Lord at thy birth;
Jesus Lord at thy birth.

From “Hark the Herald Angels Sing”

“Hark! the herald angels sing,
Glory to the new born King,
peace on earth, and mercy mild,
God and sinners reconciled!”
“Christ is born in Bethlehem!”
Hark! the herald angels sing,
“Glory to the new born King!”

Christ, by highest heaven adored;
Christ, the everlasting Lord;
late in time behold him come,
offspring of a virgin’s womb.
Veiled in flesh the Godhead see;
hail th’ incarnate Deity,
pleased as man with man to dwell,
Jesus, our Emmanuel.

Hail the heaven-born Prince of Peace. 

Hail the Sun of Righteousness!

Light and life to all he brings,
risen with healing in his wings.
Mild he lays his glory by,
born that man no more may die,
born to raise the sons of earth,
born to give us second birth.
Hark! the herald angels sing,
“Glory to the new born King!”

These lyrics resound with the true message of Christmas. God came to live with us, born of a young woman in a Bethlehem stable, as per an ancient prophecy. But, though miraculous, the birth wasn’t an end in itself. He came to take our place. God has demanded justice for sin – our brokenness. We are impotent in addressing that justice. We have tried to be better people, but “better” isn’t good enough, can never restore our relationship with God.  The Jewish tradition of animal sacrifice symbolized death as a requirement for that justice. But an animal sacrifice wasn’t sufficient either. The death required is our own. So God came Himself. 

The virgin birth was necessary since the passing of our sin nature from generation to generation comes from the male (Adam).  Conception without the sperm was necessary to have a human with no inherited sin nature, and with God, the Creator, that was no problem. Now we have God in flesh, Jesus the Christ, the long promised Messiah and Savior to the Jewish people. But they were expecting a King, not a baby, especially one born of such humble means. God never does what we expect. We are too limited in our imaginations. Jesus grew into manhood with one central purpose, to take on Himself the sins of the world. He would become the perfect Lamb of God. He came to die on that cross, then rise again, having scored the victory over sin and death.

What a staggering contrast from the beauty of Christmas – death on a cross. What an overshadowing event, the resurrection. Jesus came to die in our place. The acceptance of His sacrifice for us is seen in the resurrection. The work was finished; we have been redeemed! We celebrate Jesus’ birth because it ushers in, through that baby’s eventual death and resurrection, the gift of freedom from sin and its consequences.

One of my favorite Christmas songs is “Welcome to our World”, by Chris Rice. After hearing this song, I can’t separate Christmas from Easter. Rice begins with the manger, but goes quickly to the central message. Look at the baby in the manger and hear Rice’s words. “Fragile fingers sent to heal us, tender brow prepared for thorn. Tiny heart whose blood would save us. Unto us is born.”

May we keep the full picture of the coming of Christ in mind throughout these crazy Christmas days. May our hearts find peace and hope, love and joy because we truly know the babe in the manger, God with us; God who came to die in our place that we could have restored relationship with Him. He “wrapped our injured flesh around Him” to “rob our sin and make us holy.” There is no better response than “Come into my heart Lord Jesus, there is room in my heart for You.”

 

“Welcome to Our World”

Tears are falling, hearts are breaking
How we need to hear from God
You've been promised, we've been waiting
Welcome Holy Child
Welcome Holy Child

Hope that you don't mind our manger
How I wish we would have known
But long-awaited Holy Stranger
Make Yourself at home
Please make Yourself at home

Bring Your peace into our violence
Bid our hungry souls be filled
Word now breaking Heaven's silence
Welcome to our world
Welcome to our world

Fragile fingers sent to heal us
Tender brow prepared for thorn
Tiny heart whose blood will save us
Unto us is born
Unto us is born

So wrap our injured flesh around You
Breathe our air and walk our sod
Rob our sin and make us holy
Perfect Son of God
Perfect Son of God
Welcome to our world

Chris Rice from album “Deep Enough To Dream” Copyright: 1995 Clumsy Fly Music

 

 

The Second Week of Advent 2025

 

The Christmas message brings with it love, joy, peace and hope. The coming of Jesus as a baby in a manger in Bethlehem promises all this. Who doesn’t want some of each? With the ongoing war in Ukraine and Sudan, with unrest everywhere, including our homes – peace is in huge demand. We read that loneliness looms in too many lives, people looking for and desiring to love and be loved. Economic struggles, serious illness, job insecurity have all of us longing for hope. And wouldn’t a taste of joy make a huge difference to the grieving, depressed world around us?

The Christmas season always comes with the promise of good things. We fill our homes and outdoor spaces with light. We race around preparing food and buying gifts to put smiles on the faces of our loved ones. We find ourselves at concerts, markets, movies looking to fill our hearts with that Christmas spirit. If anything could bring love, joy, peace and hope it should be the result of all this effort during this season of promise.

What usually happens is anything but that. We become grumpy, stressed out, frustrated consumers of an empty promise. The experience of love, joy, peace and hope are fleeting, if we experience them at all. All the effort we put into making Christmas magical can often fall far short of our expectations, and we are just left with tiredness. Anyone who has sat in an empty house after the celebration can speak to the emptiness and disillusionment of the season.

But we’ve also all tasted joy, peace, love and hope. That taste has left us longing for so much more than the momentary fulfillment. We exert all this effort during Christmas hoping this year it’ll last beyond the dirty dishes, crumpled paper and discarded toys.  But how?

I’ve been my family matriarch for 30 years, hosting Christmas. I inherited the role after my mother died. I had no idea what I was getting into. I knew my mother had made Christmas magical, and I knew I wanted to continue that tradition for my family. My nephew was born the following year, and a child put even more stress on making things wonderful. I have sat in my empty house after everyone went home, my husband upstairs usually finishing the dishes and me looking at the enormous stack of empty boxes and huge bag of wrapping paper and wondering, exhausted after weeks of work, if it was worth it for a fast over and out.  Often I lacked the peace, hope, love and joy.

But through the years I have learned that if I change my focus a bit, I can experience all of those promised gifts. Certainly decorations and food preparation, shopping and activities have a part, but not the central point. First of all, it begins with refocusing on Jesus Christ.

 “How can we know that the Christmas story matters at all if we don’t fully grasp our great need for a Savior? So many of us scurry about at Christmastime hoping to find meaning in this season, when the true gift of the birth of Christ is found in unfathomable love in the heart of God. Try as we might, we can’t muster up the feelings we want to feel at Christmas; we will experience the magnitude of Christmas only to the extent that we understand the grace and mercy of God’s plan of redemption.” (Ruth Chou Simons)

Jesus entered the world in a stable, and there are very few magical elements in a barn, except maybe baby animals. A place where animals stay is not a place to give birth, even in a more primitive time. But that was the point. God came to live among all of us, and He chose to come in the most humble of situations. His first guests were shepherds. (The wise men came a bit later.) The shepherds had the light of the angels, but the stable was probably pretty dark. Yet there in those humble beginnings lay the Light of the World, the Gift of hope, love, peace and joy. God chose to enter our space, become fully human with the goal of dying in our place so we can have relationship with Him.

If I put my focus on Jesus, on my gratitude for the grace of having God with me, it helps shift my experience. I try to start my day with devotional reading. This year I am going through a list of advent readings that trace from prophecies in the Old Testament to New Testament readings about the promised Christ. (theadventusproject.worldpress.com) Then I found this wonderful book of readings for the Advent Season, Emmanuel: an Invitation to Prepare Him Room at Christmas and Always, by Ruth Chou Simons. (Harvest House Publishers, 2022) And finally, I’m reading a couple of Psalms each day. Starting my days with these readings and prayer sets my focus. I also, throughout the day, as I start to feel anxious or stressed, ask “what can I do about it?” I can give it to God for His peace. This is really the only response for so many things. For the things I can change I can ask, do I really need to do all this? What can I pare away to give myself more space? Part of this, for me, is taking time to smell the roses (or the pine tree). Sometimes we just need to sit down and breathe.

Along with focusing on Christ, I have also have learned to focus on people. Too much time is spent on worrying over whether what I’ve made or decorated or wrapped will reflect well on me, whether they will like the thing. But if my focus is really on them, then as I bake or decorate I do so praying for and thinking about the people whom I am doing this for (and accepting that way too much of the time is really spent doing it for me). I pray that those with whom I spend time will feel the presence of Jesus, His love, joy, peace and hope. And I try to make sure that the activities I choose to do throughout the season involve spending time with friends and family with little or no agenda, just time given. This has enabled me to say “no, I don’t need to do that”, whatever extra “that” is.

We host a party every year. I’ve learned that guests come for the people, not the peripherals. Certainly decorations and food set the stage, but the feedback is always about the interactions. And God has so honored my prayer that everyone feel His love and presence. Last year a small group of us just sat around talking late into the night.

Last Christmas, difficult because we’d just lost my sister, really ended up being such a sweet day. I poured a lot of prayer into handling our loss. At the end of the day my brother set up a slide show of our growing up, pictures my brother-in-law had never seen of my sister. It was such a lovely, healing time. And then we rather spontaneously had a sleep over, since the slide show finished late. We woke up and shared breakfast together. It made the leaving easier, beyond dirty dishes and empty boxes.

In switching up the focus (and believe me, this is never 100%, perfectly accomplished by any means) I have found joy, peace, love and hope in the season. Because, let’s be honest, except for focusing on the Source of true love, joy, peace and hope, they are really just fleeting pipe dreams.  But in Christ I can have it all, if I just turn my focus to Him and what He would have me doing to celebrate His birth

For God so loved the World that He gave His only Son – John 3:16

God is Love I John 3:8

I (Jesus) came that you might have joy full and complete John 15:11;  16:23

My peace I give you John 14:27; 16:33

He is our peace  Ephesians 2:14

 The peace that transcends understanding  Philippians 4:6-7

Christ in you, the hope of glory Colossians 1:27

“Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God…And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.” Romans 5:1-5

“The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness and self-control” Galatians 5:22

“May the God of hope fill you with all peace as you trust in Him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.” Romans 15:13

 Have a wonderful week.