Merry Christmas! (If a few days late). Christmas is my favorite time of the year. I have always loved it and the traditions that go along with it in my family and in my community. Every year, however, over the past three or so years, Christmas has felt different–or rather, the way I feel about Christmas leading up to it feels different. I think that part of that can be attributed to college. It really can be hard to feel the joy, wonder, and anticipation of Christmas and the advent season when you spend most of your days between Thanksgiving Break and the end of the semester holed up in a classroom or the library studying for finals. But I also think a part of it (that is, not feeling that sense of wonder leading up to Christmas as much now) comes from “growing up.” As we age, our perspective on Christmas changes.
Christmas is a beautiful time of the year, and aside from everything “secular” that has come to surround the holiday, it is an important day in the Christian faith as it commemorates the birth of Christ. As a people we have crafted around this day a series of rich traditions built on love, community, generosity, and hospitality. But deeper than these sentiments are some very key truths: Christmas is about salvation, and about the ultimate gift of Christ coming down as a man to die for our sins. That is beyond any gift we can give to each other.
I think that, as kids, it is difficult for us to comprehend the fullness of the truths behind Christmas. We do, however, as children, experience the love of our families, communities–and the joy of anticipating a gift that we know is to come. As we age, we might not appreciate some of the more material aspects or traditions of Christmas as much (whether that is because we now see some of the stress that goes into the traditions or we are not able to interact with them as much, or some other reason), but we now have the ability to appreciate the deeper wonder behind Christmas: the wonder of the Incarnation.
Perhaps I am unique in this, but I found myself over the past few years simply growing away from some of the childish wonders of Christmas and not growing into the more mature appreciation for what this holiday represents. On Twitter or with friends, the feeling of jadedness about Christmas or the lack of “holiday spirit” or “festiveness” was affirmed as something that just happened as you grew older. But, how could this be right? As I found myself reflecting back on Christmas and some of the thoughts I had begun to develop during the Advent season based on discussions I had with others, I realized, or decided, that as an adult, I really should be in even a deeper wonder at what Christmas means than when I was a child. Are we not called to have faith like a child? I think now is a perfect time for that to apply.
When we were children, we appreciated the “childish” (and by this I don’t mean immature or worthless) things of Christmas. These things are still beautiful and important traditions and can be discovered in a new way as adults–I’ve recently fallen back in love with cheesy Christmas movies! But also now, as adults, we can appreciate the things about Christmas that maybe we could not as children, but we should appreciate them with the same wonder, awe, and joy of children. Is not the LORD coming to Earth as a humble infant so that He might grow up as a human, be tempted by sin, remain pure, and ultimately die for the sins of the world far more wonderful, awe-inspiration, and joy-provoking than the idea of a jolly old elf delivering gifts to all the children of the world? I think it is.
And this Christmas, that idea, of the Incarnation, of the gift of salvation, that filled me with wonder. Though this is something I have believed in for as long as I can remember, and the Christian faith has been a part of my life since before I was born, I felt like I understood the way I interact with my faith a little better this year. I was convicted of a lack of wonder, and reminded that I must take a posture of humble, childlike, awe-filled wonder both during this season of Christmas, and during every day of my life.
So, as this Christmas season is drawing to a close, I wanted to encourage both myself and others to remember this posture of joy and wonder. This is something I hope to carry into the New Year with me, as the gift of salvation is with us every day, not just during the month of December. It is my prayer that you feel the joy of the LORD and the knowledge and assurance of His salvation in your life if you have accepted Him, and that you would live in wonder, and in a longing to share that gift with others as we always share gifts in the time of Christmas.