Imagine, you’re pregnant and in labor. You’re contractions are getting closer and closer together and you are in the dark, cold streets unable to find a comfortable room to give birth. Your husband is racing ahead of you knocking on doors and being turned away with each door he knocks on.
The pain is becoming unbareable and you know it’s almost time to push. You’re suddenly rushed to the back of an Inn where there is a stable. You by pass animals that smell awful and you get comfortable on the cold hard ground. You’re ready to push. But you’re not ready to give birth to your baby in a dirty stable next to a goat.
Christmas is the season of giving. For many of us Mamas, it’s also the season of guilt. Guilt we can’t afford to get everything we believe our family needs to have a perfect Christmas. Guilt we aren’t able to get the house cleaned and meals prepared with enough time to enjoy it all with family and friends. Guilt when you look into your child’s eyes on Christmas day, and he looks back with disappointment.
I’ve realized that in these moments when the holiday season seems to not be going as planned, this is our opportunity to make the best of it. You haven’t failed Mama. You’ve been given a task to teach your kids how to enjoy life even when things don’t go our way.
The holiday season is especially hard because Hallmark, the media, your relatives have set the bar for what makes a perfect Christmas. But truly, Christmas is what you make it.
Mary gave birth to the son of God on the ground of a barn. I’m betting she thought to herself that she must have done something terribly wrong to put the son of God in such a position. Can you imagine the embarrassment she must have felt when the wise men showed up with gifts for a king that lay in a manger?
Do you know what a manger is? I actually have never put much thought into this, but it’s where the animals eat from. The equivalent of putting your new born baby into a dirty dish.
We speak of the birth of Jesus Christ like everything went perfectly and that barn was the most magical and coziest of places. But it wasnt. I bet Joseph and Mary had moments of feeling ashamed. But God was still there and that was where he wanted them.
The holiday season may not be going the way you believe it ought to. But it doesn’t mean you’ve failed. For all you know, a Christmas that seems like a disaster to you, could be the Christmas your family look back on with joy in their hearts.
