The Twenty-Four Days Of Christmas 2014

I love Christmas. 

I love celebrating the birth of my Saviour. 

"Adoration of the Shepherds" Gerard van Honthorst, 1622 courtesy Wikipedia

I love Advent, the season of preparation for the coming of Christ.  I love the thoughtfulness of preparing my heart and my home to celebrate not only the first coming of Jesus, but His return.

I grew up celebrating the month of December.  It's one of the joys of a big family with an incredible Mama and Daddy.  They have always made sure that Christmas is a season of delight for their children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren ~ for everyone they know!  That is pretty amazing when you consider that my Dad is a pastor.  When we were little, he pastored a pretty large church, and until I was ten, he had no assistants/associates/interns.   That meant that Mom stayed rather busy helping him.  Yet with all that goes on in a church during the Christmas season, my parents made sure that our home was prepared for Christmas, as well as our church.

Mr. Marvelous still refers to me as his Child Bride.  I think the Christmas season reinforces that title.  I still get downright giddy this time of year!  Why not?  Think about the history of God's people.  After centuries of failing to honor the Creator God, of constant failure to keep even the most basic commandments, after the 400 silent years when God's people did not hear from Him at all, suddenly the Messiah came!


Stop and let that sink in for a few minutes.

He came to fix, to heal, to restore, and to glorify God.  Because we are broken, sick, and separated from God, completely incapable of bringing Him anything but dishonor.  He lived, suffered, was crucified to death, buried and then...

...He rose again! 

This little baby in a manger was to become my glorious, beloved Saviour. 

So yes, I celebrate Advent (Latin, "to come").  I celebrate the fact that Christmas is coming and I celebrate the memory of the birth of Jesus who came to rescue us from our sins.  I also celebrate the fact that He is coming again to rescue us finally and permanently when He takes us to heaven. 

In the past I have written about taking the month of December to celebrate the Twenty-Four Days of Christmas (here is the link).  This is my time to prepare my home to celebrate, to spend time with family, to enjoy the traditions of the season.  This is my time to meditate and think and pray; to focus my attention and my affections beyond the light-hearted.  This is my time to remember just exactly Who He Is, why He came, and to remember that He is coming back. 

Join me for the next twenty-four days.  There will be child-like celebration, some thoughtfulness and meditation, some music, some poetry, some art, and a whole lot of joyful preparation.