Good words from Julie Ackerman Link.
In reading Link's devotional piece, some will undoubtedly say--as I was inclined to say as I read it, "Hey, I'm not a kid. I don't want presents and candy for Christmas."
We might say, "I just want a safe gathering with my family." Or, "I want everybody to get along." Or, "I want the kids to have nice Christmases." (The latter sentiment often accompanied by the old saw, "After all, Christmas is for kids.")
But if our goals for this Christmas are safe, happy gatherings of family, conviviality, or happy children, we're aiming way too low!
(And if we think that "Christmas is for kids," we really don't get it at all.)
Christmas, that humanly created blip on the calendar, is meant to be a reminder of the thing we should most desire, not just at Christmas, but always. That's God.
On the first Christmas, whatever time of the year it actually happened, God entered into our world to give Himself to us. Jesus is not just truly human, but truly God. We Christians are remembered to how He gave Himself to us and for us every time we receive His body and blood in Holy Communion. ("This is My body, given for you...This is My blood, shed for you.")
We're called to desire the presence of God in our lives--in every part of our lives--not because God is some egomaniac. It's because without God, we are incomplete. It's because without God, we don't have God's life in us. It's because without God, we don't have the capacity to become the people God designed us to be and our relationships can't be powered by His self-giving love.
For Christmas this year, and for every day of my life, I'm asking God to help me to desire one thing above all else--more than comfort, ease, freedom from difficulties, or anything else. I want to be a person who desires God above all else.
Work in my desires, Lord Jesus, to make You and Your glory the object of all my desires. Amen
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