Our Thanksgiving was a blast. His parents came and spent a few days with us. It was very relaxing, except me and my MIL went Black Friday shopping. That was exhausting but so much fun. His cousin then got married the Saturday after Thanksgiving. THe Johnson clan took over BCS. It was a blast. It was fun seeing so much of the family at the wedding and the brunch the next day.
Ok, lets skip to now. It is Christmas season, my favorite time of year! It love the crisp cold weather, only for a few days though. I love being snuggled in blankets with hot chocolate and watching lights. But one of my students has forced me to forcus on the real meaning of Christmas. Being a Christian school, I am spending three weeks immersed in the Christmas story with my students. Part of this includes our Christmas musical. On of the scenes in the play is a p.e. coach who is disgruntled about all of the Christmas shopping, parties, and commercial holiday mess. A song in this scene mentions "stop making Christmas such a celebration." One of my students looked up at me during the song while we were practicing and was clearly upset. She said, "why do they want us to stop celebrating Christmas." My sweet and precious students are yet untaited by the commercialism of Christmas. They come from such wonderful families and could very easily explain to me that the real meaning of Christmas is that Jesus's was born and all that is to come from that moment. We talked about how some people simply focus on presents and shopping. Our memory verse this week was..And the Angel said to them, "Do not be afraid, for behold I bring good tidings of great joy that will be for all people." Luke 2:10
Jesus did not come for a few rightous people. He didn't come for the people who can put the most presents under the tree. The joy of this season is for ALL PEOPLE. I challenge myself and you to think about what joy this season is that our savior is born for ALL of us. My assistant and I have been talking about, since one of our songs brings up the braveness of Mary, how we could not even imagine what Mary went through. She sacrificed so much and was so strong. Her story challenges me to think about my life. Mary was no celebrity or rich person. She wasn't the one with the best clothes or anything special. She was simply a girl and the Lord was pleased with her enough to carry his only son. WOW. Is the Lord pleased with me? Does he look on me and my life with favor?
I just love the beauty in the Christmas story. A simple girl brings the Lord of all the Earth into the world in a manger with dirty animals. He has come to save the world, but started off in a barn. The Lord loves us so much that he came down to be with us on a beautiful Christmas night. That brings me more joy than my fantastic Christmas tree across the room or the Christmas lights in the park. So I am going to take the next few weeks to enjoy the real joy that the angels tell us about this season, our Lord has come for all of us. Amen to that.
