Perfection

We all have seen the Christmas commercials of what Christmas is supposed to look like…

The children with perfect hair wake up and run down a perfectly polished wooden staircase wrapped in garland and lights and ribbons to open up perfectly wrapped presents under the perfect tree as mom and dad sit on their perfect sofas and take perfect photos wearing their perfectly matched pajamas. Everyone gets what they want yet act perfectly surprised.

The perfect father in the perfect J. Crew sweater brings the perfect turkey to the perfectly set Christmas table as the perfect family with all their silverware in all the right places and crystal goblets full of water and wine eagerly await the perfect Christmas Eve dinner.

In real life, we head into the bathroom and take a break from our drunk uncles or our fighting parents or the annoying grandchildren and we check our Facebook/Twitter/Instagram/Whatever we are given glimpses into the worlds of those we know who, for the most part, share their own images of Christmas perfection. We rest against the bathroom wall and wonder why. Christmas is love. Christmas is light. But for many of us, Christmas is one of the most difficult times of the year.

 

Maybe there has been loss. Grief.Painful reminders of our brokenness or the brokenness of others.We pause and we wonder. Why? Why me? Why this? Why us?

If that is you this Christmas season – if you are one who is hurting more than healing – you are not alone. The depths of the meaning of Christmas are for you. It’s not the smiling family or the perfect turkey or the iPad mini. It isn’t even the promise of feeling good during Christmas.Christmas is a reminder that the One who is perfect – who brought His holy, pure love and grace to earth – became God and Spirit wrapped in flesh and was born into the most imperfect conditions because of one simple fact: He loves you. He loves you.

 

SAVORING

• Luke 4:16-21 (NIV) ¹⁶ He went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom. And he stood up to read. ¹⁷  The scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written: ¹⁸  "The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, ¹⁹  to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor." ²⁰  Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him, ²¹  and he began by saying to them, "Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing."

Ask God to give you eyes to see His perfect love for you as you go about your days.