We're finishing up a 10-week Safe Families hosting right now of a little 20 month old so I had 5 sick little kiddos under the age of 8 ... fevers, runny noses, and even some tummy trouble paved the way right up to Christmas Eve.
Of course, my firefighter husband is working a 24-hour shift today, so we're trying hard to pretend that tomorrow is Christmas Day! (We get used to him missing actual holidays with us, but it's never the same without him.)
Earlier in the week, I had tried to be Dorothy Hamill at the ice skating rink with the kids. I've been limping around with severe back pain and sciatic nerve issues ever since... so my holiday spirit wasn't very cheerful or energetic on this Christmas morning!
...And then the wheels fell off. All of the kids are still battling congestion and are tired and cranky after a week feeling poorly. The baby had an outrageous diaper that required a full bath 10 minutes before church started.
I threw in the towel, literally; and decided this little family just wasn't going to make it to church on Christmas morning! It was going to require more will-power than I had left in me to get us all happy and smiling out the door.
So at 10 a.m. Christmas morning 2016, I threw myself a little pity party. But after things had settled down a bit, I soon realized that it wasn't that I didn't have the spirit of Christmas for gatherings, cookies and carols. I had lost sight of why God had sent Christ to earth in miraculous human form!
He stepped out of absolute glory and Perfection into a messy, broken world! He endured scorn, public humiliation, brutal lashings and horrific death on a cross so that His perfect, sinless blood could be shed to cover the sins of the entire world.
He did this for you... He did this for me. There I was, my back screaming at every step, surrounded by mess and fussy sick children; and I just stopped. I shook off the pity party and simply thanked God for loving me that much, in spite of all the worst in me. In spite of the worst in all of us.
Because Christ came to be the Savior of the world, I can have true joy in my heart no matter what's going on to my circumstances; even in the midst of my less than Norman Rockwell Christmas.
I thought of how Peter walked on water... as long as he kept his eyes fixed on Jesus, the swells of deep cold waves lapping around his ankles didn't deter him. But the minute he looked around at his situation (as I was this morning, feeling sorry for myself) he started to sink; and so did I.
But when I keep my eyes focused on the Christ of Christmas who is the same today as He was yesterday and will be forever, the enemy can't rob me of my joy! I can always live in the spirit of joyful thankfulness, because my Savior walks beside me in every situation!
So as I sit in my warm cozy house surrounded by my little sniffling blessings and watch the steady rain outside my window, I am so thankful for the steady faithfulness and constant companionship that my Lord is to me!
We are never alone; He is always with us! The Christ of Christmas is as alive today as He was that cleft in the rock when He was born in a manger... God's gift to us... full-knowing that this beautiful baby was going to quickly grow to be the Ultimate Sacrifice on the cross for our sins.
Praise You, Jesus for being constant in Your love for us; even when we are so inconsistent, frail and weak!
No matter what situation you find yourself in this Christmas, remember that the Christ of Christmas is the same yesterday, today, and forever. He is waiting to be your full-payment for sin, to be the strength that you don't have, and to carry you through the circumstances that threatened to drown you.
Keep your eyes fixed on Him as you walk across whatever waves come your way in 2017!! From all of us in the Schurter household, we wish you a joyful Christmas and a blessed New Year!!
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