PORTAGE, IN (December 22, 2004) – Editor’s note: In preparation for the Christmas observance, Covenant Communications is sharing seven devotionals that originally appeared in local church newsletters and are being published here by permission. The following comes from Jody Sen, co-pastor at the Evangelical Covenant Church. She reflected on a Christmas experience after reading the late Mike Yaconelli’s book “Dangerous Wonder,” an adventure of childlike faith.
By Jody Sen
When I was little, the most fun I had on Christmas morning was opening the stockings. It was the first thing bleary-eyed mom and dad let us open.
My mom went all out (with packing the stockings). She would wrap every single thing, every pack of gum, every chapstick and pair of socks. Mom was a stocking maniac! But when we got older, stockings lost their charm – we wanted to get to the bigger and better of Christmas morning. We would forget about the stockings until the middle of our Christmas movie, or late in the afternoon. And we would get a little excited, something new to open, probably socks but maybe something cool, too. We lost the excitement over something mom still worked on, but mom continued to do it.
One Christmas I was away at college and able to come home for Christmas. It was late Christmas Eve and mom was about to talk my ear off. She was happy to have me home, but I had a surprise I wanted to get to.
A few days before, while in the midst of finals, mom had told me she could not do the stockings that year. She felt horrible about it, but I kept telling her it was not a big deal, that we didn’t mind, that stockings were unnecessary. An idea was forming in my sleep-deprived brain (however). I would secretly take the job of the stockings. So, my mom was talking my ear off on Christmas Eve but I still had a few things to wrap.
I did not appreciate all the work my mom did with those stockings; it takes forever to wrap everything for five stockings, six if you count the one the pets shared. I had to pretend to fall asleep on mom so she would go to bed to leave me to my secret work. I had a great time staying up very late to stuff the stockings and was excited to see who would notice.
In light of Yaconelli’s book, it is not surprising that it was my youngest sister, Jaime, who noticed the stockings. And listening to their dialogue over the stockings was so much fun I finally burst out laughing and confessed and everyone was interested in stockings again. I loved to see mom’s stocking full; she had never spent her energy on herself and made sure it was fun for us.
But I’m not just writing about peering into a stocking at Christmas. It is appreciating the gifts of God in family, in friends, in time spent with and for others. It is peering into the face of God. It is peering into the manger. Can you imagine the joy felt by those Magi that came to visit Jesus as a child, some months after he was born? Can you imagine the joy the shepherds felt that night as they visited Jesus after he was born?
Every year, Christmas is a time of brushing up against that joy of God’s creation, of a joyful God sending His son to the earth He created in order to save it from itself. I believe that when God was speaking the world into place, He was having a great time! After each thing He made, He said it was good. The only thing that was not good was that the man was alone, so God fixed that. And suddenly there was human fellowship and family and God was at the center of it all. What a great party!
But we forget that – we cruise through life, often at breakneck speed, and miss the joy that God intended for us. We miss the laughter of children, sun rays through clouds, the vibrant colors of fall, and raindrops through the trees. And at Christmas time, the film between Heaven and earth is at its thinnest and we miss the joy of that.
Memories of the past can be a huge barrier that can block our ability to experience joy. But can we choose the good to remember? We can ask God to touch and redeem those memories. Only He can take the sting out of them – He can accomplish so much more than we can on our own. Or we can find a spiritual partner, much like what Mary did in her going to stay with Elizabeth after Gabriel gave her the news of the Son she would have. Mary could have done many things: she could have hid in shame, she could have slinked off in the night, but she went with her cousin, who was also pregnant. And her stay with Elizabeth was so inspiring and God-led that Mary sang a song of joy, the Magnificat (Luke 1:46-55). Journaling can also be helpful, not just to dwell on the events but to ask God to come in and heal them, inviting the Holy Spirit to give insight, guidance and help . . .
The simple fact of the season is this: God sent His only Son, whom he loved, to save the creation He made, whom He also loved. The God who spoke the Heavens into place, who breathed life into the nostrils of the first human, sent His Son to be born among us as flesh and blood. God sent Him to live with us as a brother, teacher and friend. And God sent Him to die for us so that we might again – as it was intended in the beginning – have fellowship restored. All this so that we could live eternally with God.
“Santa” brings gifts, but Jesus is THE gift. Let’s all hold onto that. When we peer into our stockings, may we not forget to peer into the face of God, that Baby that was born to us so long ago, in the manger, under a cold sky, under His own star that He created with God. That is an amazing wonder, an amazing joy.
Copyright © 2011 The Evangelical Covenant Church.