Birthdays are a time of reflection.
My birthday is coming up in a week or so and I always think about my years in the past and where I have been and marvel at how old I am!! ha! Especially the older I get. And I wonder what my life will be like in a few years.
When my children have birthdays, I always spend time right before their big day looking back at old pictures and videos of them. I love remembering them as babies and toddlers. I love telling old stories about them and laughing and thinking about how much they have changed and how much they have grown. It's a time to really focus on them and what their lives mean to me and all the special things about them. I love to reminisce about all my special moments with them over the years.
Christmas is the celebration of the birth of Jesus. And I can't help but sing Christmas carols and look at nativities and read the story of His birth in the Gospels and think about what His life means. When I think about what Jesus has done for me I don't think about material things. I think about how He came to live as a man and feel all the things we do. I think about how He died a very painful death on the cross to take on our sin and take our place.
I am thankful for how He has blessed me with a sweet family and a home and health. But I also think about how He was with me when times were not easy. I think of when I was single and lonely or when it took years to have a baby or when Harper was so sick in the hospital or how He gave me peace when I had anxiety or other personal trials and how those were the times that He drew me the closest to Him and when I felt Him the most.
His birthday means more to me than all my birthdays or my kids' birthdays combined. His birthday was a gift to all of us. His birth was supernatural and miraculous. It was predicted thousands of years before He came. It was humble and quiet. It was the beginning of a shift in sacrifice. His birth meant our eternity was changed just by our faith and belief rooted in grace and mercy too magnificent to understand.
So as I think about Christmas coming in less than two weeks - I'm trying to not only have fun with my family and enjoy the lights and the fun and the presents and the joy of the season - but I'm reflecting on what Jesus and His life and His birth and His death mean. And I don't want to miss the magnitude of it all. Or the wonder.
His birth reminds me that this earth is not my home. And while I love this life I have, there is something so much greater waiting for me. And my prayer is that I will celebrate Christmas in Heaven with you one day.
Long lay the world in sin and error piningTill He appeared and the soul felt its worthA thrill of hope the weary world rejoicesFor yonder breaks a new glorious morn
