I hope your home is starting to smell good right about now. I hope you are baking treats and prepping for great meals. Maybe some gifts are wrapped and anxious anticipation is swelling as you prepare to celebrate with family. Spend time. Make memories.
I hope you get to snuggle on the couch a bit. Lay aside routine, stay up too late and sleep in a little as we forego normal for a day or two. I hope you play games and watch movies, unrushed, abiding.
I hope you find time to linger and enjoy.
And, if I may, I’d like to add just one more thing to your list. Read the Christmas story? The real one.
The story foretold some 700 years before it would occur in the book of Isaiah and some 500 years before, in the book of Jeremiah.
Would you read it?
Read about the humblest of beginnings. About Zachariah, Mary, the shepherds and Joseph, all scared. All believing faithfully. All following humbly. All caught up in a story so much bigger than them.
Put yourself in Mary’s shoes. Intentionally park your heart there for a minute. What would it be like to have the Holy Spirit come upon you and have the power of the Highest overshadow you? To raise the Son of God? Can you even imagine?
What would it be like to be a shepherd on a hillside when an angel shows up and changes your direction? What does it sound like to hear a multitude of heavenly hosts praising God?
Go there. Unwrap that.
This story resounds of brave characters. Brave faith. Brave obedience.
This story resounds of unimaginable grace, unprecedented humility, and unrelenting love.
I have a hard time wrapping my mind around it all. It seems so risky. Would God really do this all for us?
Yes, yes He did.
In the rush and busy, in the fun and the celebration, don’t miss this friends. Read Luke 1-2:20. Read Matthew 1:18-2:23. In the quiet early morning moments, go there. Amidst busy afternoons, stop there. In the late evening, soak this story in. With your kids, your grandkids, your families, your spouse. Again.
A Savior was born, friends, and it changed everything. May we live changed.
Wishing you the merriest of Christmases!
Looks like you got some wonderful family time in there! Awesome!
I hope you & yours had a very merry Christmas!
Blessings for the new year.
Hugs
Thank you, friend. Wishing you the very same. <3
Lovely lovely, Kathie!
Sometimes the little things with faithfulness are the true Gifts…
Thank you for pulling my thoughts to these humbling directions.
God Bless your heart.
*wink* I hope you will consider writing for my blog as a guest sometime in the New Year.
So very true, Ifeoma. I think that is a resounding theme for me this year – the fruit of simple faithfulness. Thanks so much for stopping by and for the invite. I’ll definitely be in touch after the New Year. 🙂 Merry Christmas!
I love this! Reading the Christmas story is a tradition of sorts with us.
We always read before opening our gifts. This is also done when we gather with cousins and grandparents and such. We pass the bible around the room and all read a few verses until the entire chapter of Luke 2 is read 🙂
Such a great precedent, Kendra! My dad has done the same since I was a baby. I remember, as a kid, sitting there thinking it was the LONGEST STORY EVER as I stared at the presents that begged to be opened. 🙂 But even in my impatience my parents were planting seeds of tradition and remembrance, showing me their priorities and setting a standard that still stands today. Keep setting that standard, Kendra! Merry Christmas!
the Christmas story is about one person – and His name is Jesus….
Yes, indeed, Andi. Wishing you a wonderful Christmas!
I sure like your space here, Katie! Merry Christmas to you and yours. May God’s blessings about in 2016!
Thank you, Liz! Wishing you the very same!
Merry Christmas, Katie. And I love revisiting the old stories. Enjoyed your pictures and graphics too.
Isn’t it amazing how they can impact us differently each time? I keep praying for new eyes to see and ears to hear His truth in every part of His story. Thank you, Debbie! And Merry Christmas!
I love this post!! Every year, before we do presents my family reads the Christmas story and sings Happy Birthday to Jesus, complete with a “Happy Birthday Jesus” cake. It’s so important to take our gaze off of stuff and fix our eyes on Him. Merry Christmas!
Yes, Lauren; what a great way to be intentional about it! And everyone loves a reason to have cake, right? 😉 Wishing you a wonderful Christmas!
Amen! Choosing brave worship and brave faith and walking humbly in adoration of the King, that’s a good choosing.
Rejoicing in the story of His grace for us and the reality of God with us, then and now.
Blessings and Merry Christmas!
Dawn
Perfectly stated. Merry Christmas, Dawn!
Your kids are so cute! Thank you for such a sweet reminder to not miss out on the beauty of our savior and enjoy these moments with our family. Sometimes we have to be purposeful about staying out of the craziness our world turns Christmas into.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year Katie!
Exactly, Janell!. Crazy has certainly threatened to run me over a time or two – worrying about gifts and who is getting what and will they even like it. This truth is definitely what I need to bring my heart back to. Wishing you wonderful memories with your own sweet kiddos. Merry Christmas!
Oh my goodness, that’s a cute pile of kids in that picture! Several years ago we added a new tradition in our family. When we wake up on Christmas morning, we sit around the tree taking turns reading the story of the Savior’s birth. The kids have taken it on as their own and hold me to it each year.
Thanks, Jenny; I’ll claim that pile! 😉 What a beautiful tradition and fabulous legacy you are building. My parents did the same thing with me and now include all of the grandchildren in the mix. I’m ready to be amazed by the story, yet again. Wishing you a wonderful Christmas!