The Not-So-Perfect Christmas
It’s time for those picture-perfect Christmas photos of families in matching pajamas, along with the picture-perfect photos of our impressive Christmas décor.
Suddenly the comparison doors swing wide open as we try to one-up our friends and neighbors so that we win the “Christmas Decorating” award. Leaving those comparisons behind has been a relief for me as I have found simple beauty in our cozy, very lived-in home, with the tiny lights on a tiny tree and the décor of yester-years.
Not needing to compete is a win for me at Christmas. I mean — Mary, Joseph, and Jesus are our Christmas models. They had no extended family around to help Mary give birth. No baby shower. No matching pajamas. Mary was a pregnant teenager on a donkey with a husband who failed to make hotel reservations ahead of time. JOSEPH!! What were you thinking?
And her baby? He was born into a total mess — and I am not talking about his genealogy that included prostitutes and murderers. I am talking about the “no crib for a bed” mess! And the smell of the animals? If it were me, I would have thought, “Really, God? This is what I get for being obedient?”
It was far from perfect. And yet, it was God’s perfect plan. I sometimes think that our here and now could use some not-so-perfect, but God’s holy perfect times in our families.
Mary, Joseph and Baby Jesus were deemed “The Holy Family” – not “The Perfect Family”. God isn’t looking for perfect families. What He desires are “holy families”. What makes a family holy? Families that surrender to the will and purpose of God.
I have learned that imperfection helps me discover the path that God calls me to when I meet Him at the cross. It is not the path that leads to the perfect life I want, but the path that leads to the holy life that I need. God makes no mistakes. He knows perfectly well what He is doing.
My prayer for all of us as we journey to Christmas Day AND the New year — is to stop trying to be the perfect family and make holiness our goal.
How? Praying for and with our family. Loving our family – mess and all. Because the mess is not only why Jesus was born but where He chose to be born. The mess is where we meet Jesus. I’m good with that – how about you?