Inconvenient

It’s holiday time again!  Decorations, gifting, special food, family gatherings, etc.  Christmas can be a time of traditions with family and friends. This year, for most of us, those traditions have big question marks hanging over them.  One thing for sure is that Christmas 2020 will be different.

It’s been many years since the last time Dad’s side of our family gathered together.  As with many families, kids grew up and married, aunts and uncles became grandparents, and new traditions were formed.  Throughout my childhood we would gather at the home of an aunt and uncle on Christmas Eve.  The adults had drawn names for gifting but the kids got a present from everyone…which was crazy great!   As you can imagine, the excitement level would grow as our family time progressed closer and closer to “present” time.  As the anticipation grew we would all gather in the living room and after everyone found a seat, only one thing stood between us and the presents…scripture!  One of us, typically the youngest reader, would read God’s birth story from Luke 2.  Some might argue this was one of the worst “set-ups” for scripture presentation ever, but I’d say it was simply inconvenient. Priorities though…I mean Christmas is still about the Baby right? 

“Your savior is born today in David’s city. He is Christ the Lord.” Luke‬ ‭2:11‬ ‭CEB

As Christians, we believe that the Creator of everything was fully human and Christmas is the time where we remember God’s birth.  There are many ways to describe a baby, but “convenient” is not the word that comes to mind.  

*I believe that God was born because our creator wanted the whole human experience.*

For many of the folks praying for a Messiah, this baby was not really the answer they wanted.  God’s priorities were beyond human convenience, but one thing for sure is that His birth was full of hope and joy.  

Christmas will be different this year. Remember that baby Jesus was going to be frustrating, challenging and inconvenient but within that child also was an abundance of Joy, Love, Peace and Hope!