Why it’s okay to “settle” for an imperfect Christmas
It’s the season for holly and lights. On Black Friday, we made the annual trek to our favorite ice cream stand where, for December, they sell real trees. Ice cream pints and a tree, a fragrant, tasty tradition.
In the quietness of my home today, I am thinking of the high hopes that steal in with Christmas dreams. Hopes for a happy time, a happy family. Hopes for peace, goodwill, and cheer. Hopes that, for once, our family portrait might look like Norman Rockwell’s renditions; images of another time, another era, another place.
Ah, this hope…
Why does Christmas raise our hopes? Why does Christmas spark such desire? What is it about this holiday that makes us feel the yearning buried somewhere down in subterranean depths, this deep, deep longing for home, and for love?
It was at Christmas time that Heaven came down. In the form of an infant, squalls splitting the midnight blue, Heaven itself showed its face. We did not know it at the time, this wonderful truth, that it was very Heaven that lay upon the hay, birthed fresh from Mary’s womb. God’s invitation, His bridge to we, the forlorn, here on earth.
At Christmas, Heaven came down.
Ever since, our hearts have been longing for Heaven. The pangs and sicknesses and disappointments of life down here tell us that we were made for more than this. We were made for a different world, a different place. We were made for a perfect kingdom where Perfect Love, it reigns supreme, and we know that we’re not yet there. And so, we live with the ache.
It’s okay to “settle” for an imperfect Christmas. Here’s why–we can embrace an imperfect Christmas because we have a perfect hope. One day, God has promised, our faith will be sight. One day, all will be made new. One day, there will be no more sorrow, no parting, no disease, no estrangement, no more disappointments. One sweet day.
It’s okay to “settle” for an imperfect life because we have a perfect Savior. It’s okay to “settle” for an imperfect life because we are perfectly loved. It’s okay to embrace the tension, the ache because it anchors us more firmly to Him. Sweet hope, the great anchor of the soul.
With all my heart, I wish you a perfectly imperfect Christmas season. For with all of my heart, I hold Hope.
Warmly,
The Curly Head