I love this time of the year. The smell of cinnamon tea filling the air, and the trimmings on the tree. It has been feeling a lot like Christmas....when I can stop and enjoy it. The month has come quickly to an end, well close to an end. We still have two more days left of the beautiful madness.
As I look around at the tree, the cinnamon tea, the stockings, the nativity, I realize one thing; how much I have forgotten the basics.
In a few days, I will be putting all the decorations away and moving on with my life. As I stare at the nativity, it kind of hurts to think of the idea of it being in a box, stuck in an attic, and waiting for another year. I never realized how simple this little treasure was. After years and generations, poor Mary was a little scratched, and at one point there were three Wise Men. It brings a little chuckle to my face as I remember all the years of celebration I have had with this simple nativity.
With the cracks and the chipped paint, I think of life a little bit clearer. Not only are there bumps in the road as we walk on, another year past and new one about to begin, but also the beauty of Christ. This year has been filled with a lot of bumps, chips, and lost Wise Men, but it all comes down to that baby in the middle of it all. Christ didn't come for us to be perfect, for us to have an easy life.
As Christmas leaves for another 360 days, not that I'm counting, I have peace in the joy and hope of the baby Jesus who died for my sins; died because of those bumps and cracks in the road. I wish I could have that simple reminder of that child placed on my shelf all year round. Sadly, I can't, but I can have the promise tattooed upon my heart.
"For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government
shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful,
Counseller, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace." Isaiah 9:6 NKJV
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