Photo credit: gracey from morguefile.com
My guess is that the manger wasn’t on Mary’s birthplan.
We like to sanitize the nativity story in our imaginations. Mary leans calmly over the manger, with cattle lowing and Baby Jesus asleep on the hay. Joseph leans on his staff in quiet awe while shepherds and peaceful sheep stare in wonder. We forget, I think, the work of birth–the blood and the sweat and the tears, the pain and the wonder as your body takes over and brings forth a brand new life. What was it like for Mary, that first Christmas night? Did her mother go with them on that three day journey from Nazareth to Bethlehem, or was she alone with this man she’d been married to for less than six months? Where was Mary as she brought God’s own son into the world–was it the stable we so often imagine? A cave? An open pavilion for travelers? Maybe the floor beneath the family quarters where the animals were kept? We don’t know. However she pictured it when the angel first showed up with that amazing message, I can’t imagine that laying her newborn baby in a feed trough was ever in Mary’s mind. A manger was hardly the bed you’d choose for the king of kings.
It wasn’t perfect, that first Christmas. And yet it was absolutely right. In Jesus’s birth God was making a declaration: that there was now good news for all people. The Savior had come. He didn’t just come for the priests and kings, the rich and the powerful. Jesus was God made flesh, pitching his tent among us. On the night of his birth he didn’t choose palaces and princes, but a humble peasant girl, a crowd of shepherds, a feed trough, and angel song. It wasn’t perfect, but it was glorious.
I feel it every year, the pressure to have the perfect Christmas. I want it all: the tree glowing with lights, the house beautifully decorated, perfect portraits of children in their holiday best. I want the homemade goodies and color coordinated wrapping paper, the gifts for teachers and Christmas carols on the radio. I want the “how does she find the time” remarks from people amazed at the generosity and creativity of handcrafted gifts. I want the Hallmark moment I can hold in my memory where for a shining moment I had it all together, and it was absolutely perfect.
But this is what I’ve found: that in pursuing the perfect we lose the power of Christmas. Jesus didn’t come for our sanitized selves. He came as a physician for the sick, the healer for our brokenness. He stepped out of heaven’s glory into our darkness and became light for us to show us the way. He came for the outcasts and the forgotten. He came for those who were desperate for hope, for the slaves longing for redemption. He didn’t come to tell us how to clean ourselves up; he came to cleanse us and make us whole. He saw our filthy rags and Jesus–Emmanuel–God with us–came to clothe us in righteousness by his blood. Hiding our mistakes only insulates us from the truth: that Christmas is the celebration of a God who answered our deepest needs by giving us the gift of his only Son.
So this Christmas, let’s let go of the myth of a perfect holiday. There’s no such thing. Sing the songs, wrap the presents, and decorate the tree–do what fulfills you and reminds you of the beauty of God’s gift to us. Do what helps you celebrate the light of Christmas and share it with others. But don’t hide your brokenness; rejoice that God loves you in spite of it and sent Jesus to rescue, redeem and restore. Let go of other people’s expectations and your own fears of disappointing them. Keep it simple and love them well. Maybe the tree is a little lopsided, the carols are off key, and a few of the cookies are burnt. It’s okay. Jesus is born. Celebrate him. It may not be a perfect Christmas, but it can be glorious.
This post is part of the third Thursday Hearts at Home Blog Hop. Click on over to Jill Savage’s blog to see what others have to say about No More Perfect Holidays.
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2 comments
Thank you for a beautiful message. It is one more reminder to me about letting go of other’s perceptions and expectations and being true to myself and the real meaning of Christmas. I love the “don’t hide your brokenness; rejoice that God loves you in spite of it”. I dream of the Hallmark holiday each year, but my cards would be in the humor section with crazy looking people on it!
Thank you!
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