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What Does Jesus Want for Christmas?

We are in full swing of all things Christmas around our house!  My middle son is currently getting frustrated at his gingerbread house because the frosting isn’t holding his little colored candies.  In the words of the great Christmas thinker, Buddy the Elf, he is an angry elf, at least for the moment.  Baseball practices have already begun, as is typical for December, so right next to our “kid” tree that is decked with far too pricey Hallmark ornaments is a giant batting cage so that the boys can hit baseballs off of a tee.  We’ve had several casualties.   The kids are high on the Christmas spirit, so there has been lots of extra shenanigans that just make this momma tired.  And that is what “It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas” actually looks like in this house.   We do have lots of fun together and some sweet family traditions but still it’s busy, it’s messy and it’s not Pinterest perfect.  So, I am taking a little bit of time off of my normal responsibilities while my kids are still in school this week to be still in the midst of this full season.   Time to reconnect with Jesus, my family and friends, and even my own heart.  I’ve been able to “walk slow” the last few days, like a dear friend reminded me to do last week during a very demanding few days.  It’s funny how this walking slow changes how I see things, how it reveals perspectives I would have missed in the rush. 

 I’ve had a little time to read, write or just sit and dream about what God is calling me to in the future.  The kind of dreaming where the deepest desires of my heart are put into motion within the confines of my mind.  Dreams spring forth from our hearts and take shape in our minds as we process how these ideas can actually come to fruition.  This fall, I participated in a Bible study in which one of the sessions focused on the story of Bartimaeus in Mark 10.   Jesus, as was typical during his life on earth, asked Bartimaeus a provoking question.  Jesus asked him “What do you want me to do for you?” Blind Bartimaeus wanted to see, that part was obvious. But then we were challenged to sit with God for a bit and name our own desires in Jesus’ presence.  I wish I could tell you I had some profound, impressive response.  I did not.  I want what everyone else wants.  Health for my family, money to pay our bills and a comfortable life.  I hit a wall and had a hard time naming a desire underneath some of the surface desires all humans have in common.  But then John 17:20-25 came to my attention and I’ve been turning these holy words over in my mind for the last few weeks.  At the end of Jesus’ prayer to the Father, he lays the desire of his heart out on the table.  What was Jesus’ desire?  What did Jesus want?  He desired that those whom the Father had given him would live in unity with one another so that the world would know him and that His people would be with Him forever and see his glory.  As a follower of Jesus, shouldn’t my truest desires be reflective of his?   What if all of my desires stemmed from Jesus’ desire to see me living in spiritual union with him and others and to be together in His glory. The King of the universe has declared that He desires to be with his people.   That truth should impact our desires.  The Christian faith is distinctly different in this way.  We serve and love a God in response to His sacrificial love for us.  He loved us first.  He served us first.  He was one with the Father first.  He came for us first.   And we love him and experience unity with him and others out of the overflow of that which we have received.  I am praying that God would use these words of Jesus in his final prayer to the Father, these desires of Jesus, to shape my own desires.  It seems fitting to spend time this season praying that God would help me lay down any of my own short-sighted, half-hearted agendas so that I can see His greater plans and join him there.   What does Jesus really want for Christmas?  To be with his people.  Accept the gift of Christmas and spend time with Jesus.  Anticipate him, celebrate him, and prepare for him because He is coming again.  But the next time Jesus comes, He will come to claim all that is rightfully His.  And for this I rejoice.  O Come, O Come, Emmanuel.  

Merry Christmas Friends.

It's not you, it's me!

Every relationship is an investment.  If we want to have a friend, we must be a friend.  If we want to have a strong partnership, we must be a good partner.  If we want to our children to love us, we must love them.  If we want our marriage to be healthy, we must be healthy.   Our normal tendency is to look at (and to) the other person and to wonder (even dream) about what he/she could do to make the relationship stronger.  But as we've been reminded by so many...when we point 1 finger we have at least 3 pointing back at ourselves (I can never get my thumb to cooperate so there are 4).  

What makes the investment into any relationship so costly is that it requires vulnerability...taking the risk to let someone else see us at a deeper level than just on the surface.  If either person is not willing to be vulnerable, the relationship will remain surface and stagnant...which can eventually lead to bitterness, dysfunction and destruction...messy.  Fear, disappointment, unmet expectations, and even impatience are all contributing factors that can keep us from being vulnerable and often can destroy intimacy (not just in the bedroom but also in the boardroom, around the water cooler, at the playground, across the street or table).  Intimacy is not a sexual act but the allowance of one to be known and to know...closeness.

I've always admired Paul as an example of life and ministry.  His words to the Thessalonians have always been a focus for me in ministry.  It speaks of the type of vulnerability Paul expressed so that the Gospel would have skin on it.  He says: "Because we loved you so much, we were delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God but our lives as well" (1 Thessalonians 2:8)

My relationships could use an increased dose of closeness...which will require me to be more vulnerable: to let others see my true feelings, my hopes and fears, my dreams and my disappointments, my ups and my downs.  And my relationships could benefit from me knowing the same from my spouse, children, co-workers, neighbors, and friends.  It's time to destroy the "killers of intimacy" in my relationships.

Jesus didn't let the expanse between Heaven and Earth keep us from seeing His true identity. 
"The Word became flesh and blood, and moved into the neighborhood. We saw the glory with our own eyes, the one-of-a-kind glory, like Father, like Son, generous inside and out, true from start to finish." (John 1:14)  
I'm ready to push through the obstacles that have prevented me from knowing and being known.  I hope you are ready to do the same.  For ultimately, it's not "them" but "us"!