Its Christmas tomorrow. Are you ready? Have you bought in all the food, defrosted the meat, wrapped all the presents, sent out all the cards, hoovered the house, put up the decorations, iced the cake, made the mince pies, chilled the wine and found the crackers?
Maybe you’re list has more in it. Maybe it has less. If you haven’t done everything, it doesn’t matter. It might not be the celebration you had planned, but it doesn’t need to be fancy. If you have done everything, great! Well done! Now stop and put your feet up.
I wonder if they were ready for that very first Christmas. I suspect not. I doubt Mary was ready to be a mother, or that Joseph expected to be a father so soon. I doubt they expected to be travelling when Mary was nearly due, nor that when they arrived they wouldn’t have a comfortable room. I doubt they were ready at all. And yet, Jesus arrived. Ready or not, Mary and Joseph had baby Jesus to look after in a strange house with no crib. And to top it all off, they also had uninvited guests dropping by.
There’s a lot to be said about stripping things back. If you haven’t completed your to-do list and don’t feel ready for Christmas, take heart. The first Christmas wasn’t exactly luxury and smooth sailing. If you have finished, remember it’s not all about the stuff. The first Christmas was simple – a manger, some animals, star light.
There’s nothing wrong with lots of preparations and being organised, or with there being gifts and food. The wise men who came to Jesus were prepared and brought expensive gifts. Just as there’s room in the story for the spontaneous visitor shouting for joy with nothing really to show. The shepherds left the hills and came to see Jesus with no warning or preparation at all.
That’s the wonderful thing about the Christmas story. There is room for everyone in that ‘stable’. The young mother, the man whose plans had been shattered, the outsider in society, the wealthy and important, and everyone in between. The important thing that links all of these people is that they came for Jesus.
You are welcome in the stable, whoever you are, no exceptions. Will you welcome Jesus into your Christmas?
The Reason for my Hope Blog 