This year I have been seeing Christmas from a new perspective. Each year there are so many ways to fill up the Christmas season with activities and traditions, and the rush of finding Christmas presents within a seminary budget. All of these seemingly good things can find ways to distract from the “true meaning” of Christmas, even if they are well-intentioned. On top of the craziness of the holidays, my husband and I have faced many challenges in this last year and we have really seen our faith stretched as we have been taught to trust God’s faithfulness, even when we don’t know what is ahead. So this Christmas I am glad to know that my joy isn’t in a set plan for the next year, perfectly executed Christmas plans, or having the most creative gifts under the tree. This year I am celebrating the story of Christmas by focusing on the bigger picture.
Recently we sang the song “Joy to the World” at church, and the third verse really struck my heart: “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,/ Far as the curse is found,/ Far as, far as, the curse is found.”
The reason we celebrate the birth of Jesus, and sing of the Joy of Christmas, is because Christ coming to earth means that we can have salvation in Him. Jesus came to earth and then bore our sin on the cross, which defeated the curse of man from Adam and Eve’s fall in Genesis. Because of the amazing sacrifice on the cross, as a believer I am God’s child and that is all that matters- not the uncertainty of what lies ahead, having the perfect Christmas dinner, or stretching myself thin over Christmas activities. All that matters is that Jesus came to earth and now I can live in Communion with Christ. Amen!
I hope you will join me and rest in the truth of the bigger picture. Although having a tree lit and checking things off the to-do list make me happy, my true joy comes from being a daughter of the Lord Most High.
Rebekah McGee and her husband are members of the Summit Church and are currently in the Ethiopian adoption process for their first child. Her husband Will attends Southeastern and intends to graduate in 2011. You can read their adoption story on http://yestoadoption.blogspot.com. 
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