As a child, I loved the smells of this time of year. In my memory, it always seemed to get cold in
December (even though it rarely snowed in Houston). But the coldness brought
with it the smell that somewhere, someone was burning wood. The idea of campfires and fireplaces and cords
of wood permeates the season. The smells
and temperature (not so much the wall calendar) pointed to carol singing in the
car on the way to celebrate Christmas with my dispersed families in New Braunfels,
Corpus Christi, and Old Ocean, Texas.
I love Christmas. I always have. Presents were always wonderful to get, but I
don’t remember most of them. What I
remember and carry with me to this day are family gatherings in Madisonville
and Lake Conroe, Brach’s candy wreaths, huge feasts of ham, turkey, and venison,
cream cheese on celery stalks, and putting whole black olives on my fingers to
eat them one-by-one. Then followed Christmas
games and pranks, charades with the adults and children playing together.
I remember the current girlfriends of uncles initiated into
the family through pranks at Christmas.
I always assumed they would become a part of the family until they didn’t
show up the following year. Love is
complicated.
At the shopping mall the signage of the stores used words
like, Joy, Peace, Light, Hope, Love…great words! I believe in these words.
But none of this compares to the incomprehensible depth of
what God accomplished at the Incarnation and birth of his Son. The God and Creator of the Universe stepped
into his creation in the most common way.
Your Maker lowered himself to his creatures to bring us up to where he exists.
This simple fact alone should change us,
let alone his acts on Calvary. More than
anything else, Christmas is the time to contemplate and be transformed by the
depth of God's gift to you. Let those
great words become manifest in your life daily, not just annually.
