Grace at Christmas
Grace at Christmas
Last Sunday was Advent Sunday, and tomorrow marks the first day of December. For us moms, it gets a little crazy over the next few weeks! We want to keep our focus on Christ, but also make memories with our families. We have presents to buy and wrap, a house to decorate with our family (which is usually more difficult with young kids than by ourselves!), lots of opportunities to give, lessons to teach our kids, and events to plan and attend. Fortunate- we are.
In all of this busyness, it is easy to focus on ourselves and on our abilities or lack thereof.
It’s all about Him. It’s not about us.
Inevitably, things are going to go wrong. Someone is going to spill something when the house is finally for once clean and ready for guests. You are going to say something to a family member that is taken the wrong way. Your child gets sick. You or your spouse has to work late on the night of your child’s special event. And on and on. It’s not going to be perfect, and that’s okay. Christmas is time to realize an important point.
It’s all about Him. It’s not about us.
Grace
At every turn in our lives, we realize that we are not “good enough” on our own. We need grace. And we need to extend it to others every chance we get. Moms, we will never be able to make Christmas or anything else perfect or even good enough in our own abilities. That’s one reason why Jesus came. Even far beyond these examples above, Jesus came to give us grace and forgiveness. We are going to mess up, miss opportunities, make mistakes, and that is okay because of Jesus’ grace.
Another example for me is leading in Women’s Ministry. I am clearly unqualified for the job, but I am willing (and I thank God for the opportunity- 1 Timothy 1:12). For whatever reason, God is using me. It is clearly not in my strength, but his grace is sufficient. Like all of these other examples, I am reminded of 2 Corinthians 12:9.
“My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”
Perfection
Clearly, we can all see Him better when His power is displayed in imperfect people. So, as we go this Christmas season, and things don’t go according to plan, let’s remember it’s about Him and not us. Maybe He’s using your imperfection to point to His grace and perfection. Isn’t that what Christmas is all about anyways?
