How quickly we forget. Christmas is this weekend and to be honest, my mood yesterday wouldn’t have given you indication whether it was Jesus’ birthday or Judgment Day. OK, the whole truth here is I highly dislike to use my brakes when possible and I was meeting my dad after work at Costco. You do the math, it wasn’t an enjoyable experience. And yes, brake lights do get the better of me, I’m disappointed to say. All that aside, I took a look at something I wrote a few years ago when I got home and it struck me plain as day. How shortsighted am I! This season isn’t about me, just as much as this life isn’t about me every other day. Yet, it seems when this should be most celebrated, it is farthest from my mind.

It’s nearing midnight on Christmas Eve
I get to thinking and the thoughts turn to worry
The tears of remorse I wipe with my sleeve
Another year’s worth of selfishness brought back in a flurry

Look at all that I’ve been given
Family, friends and health, what more could I ask?
So caught up in myself, I’ve forgotten the reason
For the season, for Your Son, for life itself
Christmas, where are you?

There should be joy and celebration, but my heart’s not free
Held captive by the could’ve, should’ve, would’ve but didn’t
As I look back, there’s a light in the debris
Where I go and what I do in the next year doesn’t have to be where I went
 
Look at all that I’ve been given
Family, friends and health, what more could I ask?
So caught up in myself, I’ve forgotten the reason
For the season, for Your Son, for life itself
Christmas, where are you?

On this the silent night, I hear my heart screaming
Amidst the lights, there exists a hope for the year to come
I’ll sing out this Christmas for the Savior again coming
Whose redemption is the reason I’m alive, even when I’m numb
 
Look at all that I’ve been given
Family, friends and health, what more could I ask?
So caught up in myself, I’ve forgotten the reason
For the season, for Your Son, for life itself
Look at all that I’ve been given
Family, friends and health, what more could I ask?
So caught up in myself, I’ve forgotten the reason
For the season, for Your Son, for life itself
Christmas, where are you?
 
Embrace the loved ones around you and thank the Lord above
For what you are holding is more precious than the purest gold
Love is all that matters; it’s the greatest reason of all
So count your blessings, go make merry never forgetting why you’re here
 
Look at all that we’ve been given
Family, friends and health, what more could we ask?
So caught up in ourselves, we’ve forgotten the reason
For the season, for His Son, for life itself
Look at all that we’ve been given
Family, friends and health, what more could we ask?
So caught up in ourselves, we’ve forgotten the reason
For the season, for His Son, for life itself
Christmas, where are you?
Christmas, where are you?

“Christmas, Where Are You?”

Two thousand years ago, God accomplished the impossible. He chose the perfect woman in which to plant His seed and the perfect man to which she was betrothed to believe that God could do such a thing without the help of another man (i.e., adultery). This woman carried God’s Son and birthed Him in a stable. God was in baby form and He allowed this baby to take the normal course of maturation, enduring boyhood and adolescence until He dropped of the face of the map after the age of twelve and we don’t see Him again until He’s thirty. Jesus, God, was but an ordinary man born under never before and never again seen circumstances. He had a brother with whom He grew up and He carried on His dad’s work as a carpenter. On the surface, everything looked normal, but His Father wasn’t a human or even on this earth!

He was the greatest gift of all. This is why we celebrate. The day Christ was born, Mary and Joseph unwrapped the greatest gift mankind has and ever will see. Each year we imitate this, giving gifts to loved ones and friends to show them as God showed us two thousand years ago He loved us more than anything with His gift. He showed us that even when the world did not love Him, His love was great to the point of giving us all His greatest gift as well. On that day, God showed His love greater than anything we could ever fathom.

“In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.” — 1 John 4:9–11

It is because of that fateful day, we have a definition of love. It is because of that day we can celebrate and rejoice, forever. It is because of that day we begin to understand the greatness of God. Finally, it is because of that day we know how we should love God and one another, but how quickly we forget.