Christmas songs are sung only in December. People gear up the whole month for this time of the year. There is a different feeling, a different sound in the air as we sing “Joy to the World.”
Then we busy ourselves, preparing room for guests and family members, buying and giving gifts, taking cookies to those who are lonely, hanging lights and decorating our homes.
We live between the external and internal, letting the clamor of Christmas drown out the small cry of the Child in the manger. We stand between outer bustle and inner reality. After the celebrated day on the calendar, we take down the decorations and put baby Jesus back in the box until next year.
Immanuel, “God with us,” is in our hearts all year. Why do we put Jesus away in our minds, along with the Christmas decoration, then go on with our lives?
Has Christ become so familiar with what He did for us that we aren’t amazed anymore? It takes December to bring Him back to our hearts.
In January we return to our predictable life. We like our predictable life. Truthfully, we love it — and in our rush we forget the ones we promised in December to visit. Jesus stays boxed away because there seems to be no room left for heart things.
Life takes over. We get back to living, or what we call living: throwing up a new calendar, hitting work hard and planning next year’s vacation.
Jesus doesn’t change. Jesus is the same yesterday, today, tomorrow, and He is the same Spirit who dwells in us all year long. Who changes? We do.
I have given Jesus authority over me, and yet I teeter between two voices: what I do and what I believe. It’s a hard-fought song as I juggle both. No wonder the yearly tug-of-war rises in my soul. It steals the peace I should have this time of the year.
I can quote verses all day long and still struggle to hear the true song of the season — that quiet peace rising from the manger. Much like Brandon Lake’s “Hard Fought Hallelujah,” a praise forged in trials, “So, I’ma keep on singin’ ‘til my soul catches up with my song.”
For everyone who trusts in the Christ child and His purpose in coming, I am sure others struggle with the bustle of the season and sing those same lyrics, “So, I’ma keep on singin’ till my soul catches up with my song.”
Final brushstroke: Jesus doesn’t belong in a box on a shelf and being forgotten about until next year. Whether simply walking through ordinary days or surviving yet another Christmas, the Lord is speaking and calling us forward in faith to give Him our full attention and preeminence. He has already given Himself as the greatest gift and is inviting us not to fight the season, but to rest in Him.
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Views expressed do not necessarily represent those of The SUN.
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