She didn’t share their excitement
over the coming of Christmas. Instead, panic swept over her as she thought of all
the extra things she had to get done in those 55 days. Buy (and wrap!)
gifts for everyone on the family’s Christmas list. Decorate the tree and house.
Mail cards. Attend/Host Christmas programs and get-togethers.
She’s not the only one dreading
the coming of Christmas. For many, the images of “perfect” people living “the
good life,” especially during the holidays, bring painful awareness that they and
their family don’t measure up to such perfection.
Others, who, for various reasons,
will be apart from their families at Christmas, dread the pain of loneliness
they’ll experience. Still others, weary and worn from the struggles of daily
life, feel they have no more energy and/or resources to use for Christmas,
since the holiday has become so draining—financially, emotionally, physically…
Such dread, such lack of
excitement, regarding the coming of Christmas, isn’t new. In 1849 Edmund H.
Sears mentioned circumstances that are much the same for us today: “the woes of
sin and strife…years of wrong…man at war with man…life’s crushing
load…toil…painful steps and slow…” (“It Came upon a Midnight Clear”).
What can we do? Mr. Sears advice:
“O rest beside the weary road, / And hear the angels sing,” as they did
centuries ago to lowly shepherds watching over their flocks. They, like we, yearned
for good news, for hope that life would get better. It was to these downcast
shepherds that the angel announced the birth of Christ.
Here’s the story, as recorded in
Luke 2:8-15, NLT: “That night some
shepherds were in the fields outside the village, guarding their flocks of
sheep. Suddenly, an angel of the Lord appeared among them, and the radiance of
the Lord’s glory surrounded them. They were terribly frightened, but the angel
reassured them. ‘Don’t be afraid!’ he said. ‘I bring you good news of great joy
for everyone! The Savior—yes, the Messiah, the Lord—has been born tonight in
Bethlehem, the city of David! And this is how you will recognize him: You will
find a baby lying in a manger, wrapped snugly in strips of cloth!’
“Suddenly, the angel was joined by a vast host of others—the armies of heaven—praising God: Glory to God in the highest heaven, and peace on earth to all whom God favors.’
“When the angels had returned to
heaven, the shepherds said to each other, ‘Come on, let’s go to Bethlehem!
Let’s see this wonderful thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us
about.’”
The shepherds ran into the village and found the Baby lying in a manger, just as the angel had said. What great joy they—and everyone else who heard about the birth of the long-awaited Messiah—felt.
Yet, sadly, the joy over that
good news has gotten lost in today’s celebration of Christmas. But we can
experience it anew if we’ll slow down and shift our focus from the “stuff” of
Christmas to the wondrous gift of a Savior who loves us.
© 2012 by Johnnie Ann
Burgess Gaskill
