Even though the days before Christmas Day can be very hectic and stressful, I am thankful for this day. Once the gifts are wrapped, the house prepared, the food ready, and the family starts arriving it becomes for me a very happy occasion.
I always worry about the stress of the day and the challenges it’s going to bring, but this year I stopped worrying. I handed everything to the Lord. Every time I worried I connected with Him and thanked Him for helping me, and you know something? Everything worked out smoothly. Everything went well. This became such a happy time for me this year.
This wasn’t always the case for me. I always worried about the details and made sure I was up very early, hours before the guests arrived, making sure I didn’t forget anything. Not only that, I constantly worried about the food being ready and hot when my family arrives and because of that my nerves are always shot by the time they get here. I always felt stressed out.
When I woke up yesterday I did myself a favor and talked to the Lord for an hour while I was still in bed and started handing Him a list of requests I needed help with. I mentally went through the things I needed done, and one by one asked the Lord to help me work it out. I said to Him, “Lord, please help me get the food out hot and ready by the time they arrive. Please, Father, I would like to have the food ready for them.” Then second, I asked Him to help me tidy up the house and set up the tables. I usually have the tables set up the night before but this year I found out that one of my sisters was coming for Christmas unexpectedly with her children, and I had to do last minute shopping and gift wrapping on Christmas Eve. Instead of staying up late and worrying about the tables and making sure every room was tidied up and vacuumed, I went early to bed, picked up my guitar and sang to the Lord and talked to Him. In my experience in times past, whenever I put the Lord first and make time to talk to Him and be in His presence, He gives me a blessing by doing double duty for me the next day by making sure to grant me the desires of my heart. He makes up for what I slacked on and does a fabulous job on top of it. He gives me rest and peace and works everything out for me.
That’s exactly what He did for me the next day. Not only was my food ready and hot when my guests came, my tables were ready, and the rooms all vacuumed and prepped up. My husband and I were also able to celebrate our Christmas together before they arrived. We were able to exchange our gifts without even rushing and worrying. I knew the Lord was at the helm and He’s going to take care of everything for me, and He did. You know how He did it? My guests were late. The funny thing was we had a little mishap that forestalled the heating up of the food in the oven. One of the trays started leaking onto the bottom of the oven and started smoking badly. We had to turn it off and clean it up. Miracles of all miracles I didn’t care. I believed in my heart that the Lord will work everything out for me regardless. My husband and I went on and did other things while the oven cooled. It’s as if God was orchestrating everything so that we were able to pay attention to other things that needed to be done. When the other rooms were done my husband cleaned up the oven and continued heating up the food while I made the salad. Step by step the Lord showed me what we needed to do. He is such a great help to me. Everybody was running late and I sure did not mind it one bit this time. We were all running late. The Lord is so good and merciful.
I think about the many years of holidays I stressed and fussed and fumed and wished there’s no such thing as Christmas. Even days before this I wondered about it again, whether this preparation was all really necessary. But when my family and I were all seated in the living room and my brother was playing the guitar and my nephew was playing his percussion box and all of us were singing the Christmas carols, I couldn’t help but swell up in my heart and praise the Lord for such a wonderful moment of fellowship with my family and the reason we were together: Jesus’ birth. That’s the reason for all the preparations. Yes, maybe it can get very hectic and crazy, but it is all worth it. It’s all worth the stress of trying to get things ready. When we started singing O Holy Night and I began to reflect on the words of the song I started crying. I realized how beautiful is the birth of Jesus. How beautiful is His love for us. How beautiful that He gave me this day to reflect on His wonderful gift of love: Jesus Christ, the Son of God, a baby in a manger, humbly giving Himself to us. He is so good to give Himself to us. How beautiful that scene must have been to Mary, Joseph and the shepherds before Him. And it is all because of His great love for us, His grace and His abundant mercies that endures forever.
I pray that I will have many more Christmas holidays to spend with my loved ones. I pray that every year we will gather and sing choruses about the birth of Jesus Christ. For truly, He is the best reason of all to have a Christmas Day, and I thank Him and love Him for it.
For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counseller, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. {Isaiah 9:6}
Prayer
Lord Jesus, thank You Father, with all of my heart for Your bountiful mercy and grace. Thank You because Your mercy endures forever. Thank You, Jesus for giving us Your precious self to be laid at the manger for a gift of life to us all. I love You so much, Lord, because Your birth ushered in a new world for all of us: a world of hope and light, goodness and grace, love and peace. Without You Jesus we would all be so lost today. Thank You Father for Your wonderful gift of love to us today and everyday: Jesus Christ, the Savior of our world. Thank You Father God for You, I praise You. Amen.
