Christmas. That one word evokes so many feelings, from joy and anticipation to loneliness and loss. It’s a sensitive–and precious–time of year.
The pups shown here are remnants of my children’s childhoods. I’ve kept them around to remember the joy of those years, and because you never know when you’re going to need a hug.
My dad gave my son the dark brown pup, Poochie, when Matt was a baby. Matt was born in California. We’d moved far away from our East Coast families so my husband could pursue his Hollywood dreams.
As December rolled around that first year, I admit it was hard for this East Coaster to catch the spirit. With 75-degree weather, lights strung on palm trees, and evergreens flocked in pink and white and baby blue, nothing seemed “Christmassy.”
Two weeks before Christmas, I went into labor. My mother hopped on a plane and flew out to help us, knitting a special Christmas stocking for Matt on the way. She decorated our mantle, made food for us, and helped us start parenting our new little boy, then flew home on Christmas Eve. Every year I think what a sacrificial gift her presence was, what an act of love in a very busy time.
Christmas Day fell on a Sunday that year. The church we attended, Beverly Hills Presbyterian, was holding just one service that morning. My husband and I put two-week old Matt in a Snugli and off we went. Having a brand-new baby at the Christmas service was pretty special for everyone. I remember the lady in front of us turned around to admire him. She was Greer Garson, one of the top film stars of the 1940s.
Having a new baby to hold and nurse and rock gave me lots of time that year to think about Mary and the baby she bore so very long ago. I know that a lot of the ways we decorate and celebrate are not exactly true to what really happened. Take the Nativity Scene. That manger–was it wooden or, more likely, carved out of stone? What animals were there? It is highly unlikely that the Wise Men showed up at the same time as the Shepherds. And do we have the numbers right? There were three gifts, but were there three Wise Men, or more?
Still, just as a fictional story can convey truth, so our traditions can be meaningful even if they don’t align exactly with history.
As I look at a typical Nativity Scene, I see a young woman who believed an angel, left her home, and followed her husband to a distant village. She had her first baby in what must have been awkward and maybe frightening circumstances, far away from her mother and sisters and aunties, her female support.
I see a group of Persian Magi who traveled hundreds of miles because they believed in the significance of a star linked to ancient Jewish prophecies. They were far away from believing in Yahweh when they started, but by the time they saw the baby, they knelt and worshipped.
I see shepherds, the most humble of all community members, who knew about Yahweh and Jewish laws and practices but had no idea the Child about to be born nearby was the one prophesied of old. Then the angel chorus came, proclaimed His birth, they sought Him, believed, and worshipped.
I see Joseph, who, when he found his betrothed was pregnant, originally planned to divorce Mary quietly. But an angel came to him in a dream, and Joseph believed. He faithfully cared for Mary and then her baby, through the journey to Bethlehem, and later to Egypt, and back to Nazareth.
And then I see Mary. She carried Him, birthed Him, nursed Him, and raised Him, but even Mary stumbled over Him. She did not understand His ministry, His mission, or His methodology. Yet despite her stumbling, Mary ultimately believed and courageously stood by Jesus at the very end, as He suffered and died on the cross.
This Christmas when you gather with family and friends, understand that you are part of a similar scene. Some who are present with you are far away from God like the Magi, some are, like shepherds, kind of living in the vicinity of faith, and some others are very close. There is hope for all of them–for all of us—to truly know Him, for Jesus is Emmanuel, God with us. However you celebrate, draw near, and be blessed.