Does Christmas really bring out the best in us?
As I write this short piece, our small Christmas tree sits atop a small end table. It is wrapped in gold and silver garland. From nearly every branch hangs a meaningful ornament. One of our two strands of lights have gone out this year, but no one seems to mind. It is the variety of ornaments that captures everyone’s attention.
If you come into our living room and look at our Christmas tree, you may be surprised to find ornaments picturing holy scenes (baby Jesus in the manger), beautiful figurines (a golden Biltmore mansion), handmade items (a felt dove with a ribbon proclaiming “love”), and even silly ornaments (the Chick-fil-a restaurant cow).
It is a mixture of emotions that arise when I gaze at our tree: joy, nostalgia, hope, peace. The beautiful stillness of the ornaments makes me want to bring such stillness into my own heart, to swallow it and let it become part of me.
But then I am called back to reality. My daughter yanks my arm, pulling me into the kitchen to pour her more orange juice. My wife enters the room to tell me she slept late, and I’ll need to watch the kids while she gets ready for her online class. The ornaments are left dangling, just like my fleeting moment of peace.
Does Christmas really bring out the best in us?
In between the thousands of little chores which fill up my day, I glance longingly at the ornaments. What is it about them that calls to me? Am I wishing for the time again when Jessica and I were first married, like in the ornament marked, “Our First Christmas”? Was life really simpler? Did I enjoy Christmas more then? Was I more at peace?
Jesus came to bring peace on earth, the Bible says. That is, he came to bring peace between the holy God and sinners. The peace Jesus brings is an eternal one. If Jesus had not come, living as a human man, dying for our sins, and rising again on the third day, peace could not be possible.
As I think about the peace Jesus brings, rightly highlighted all the more at Christmastime, I do find my soul calmed. Even in the midst of a busy and changing life, I find myself opening my heart to a different kind of beautiful stillness. This other stillness, a divine stillness, lasts far longer than one season per year.
“Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.”
-Luke 2:14
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