FAITH & FAMILY
DiscoverNorthTexasMagazine.com
What is christmas? What is Christmas? What does it mean to me? As a boy my answer would have included, of course, Jesus’ birth, but more excitingly I would have gone on and on about what it “really meant”. Toys! No school! Mario Brothers, new gadgets, fun nights, and more presents. It would have been about the events, the lights, the spectacles, and the excitement surrounding the most anticipated day of the year. My childhood Christmases were still centered around Christ, just for my little heart, the excitement of Christmas was mostly centered around what I would be getting more than anything else. As a 37-year-old husband and father to 11-year-old twins, my answer is quite a bit different from that of the early 1990’s.Christmas, now, has almost zero to do with what I “want” and everything to do with the beauty and joy of the spirit of this great day. Christmas is about hope, joy, and peace. It’s about family, new beginnings, and the reminder of the values that are so foundational to our existence. Christmas is about resetting our gaze away from the challenges, business, and stress of our modern days and realigning them with a slower pace that chooses to celebrate what matters most in this life. For so many years this season was marked with pressure. Pressure to “do”, 41
pressure to “buy”, pressure to “one up” last year’s gifts…just pressure. Pressure to be everywhere all at once, to not let anyone down, to overdo it and never stop running. We had to “be here”, “be there”, “get this gift”, “get that gift or they’re going to get their feelings hurt”; and so on and so on. What was intended to be a season of lifegiving joy inevitably, year in and year out, turned into one of weariness and being over-extended. Thank you, Jesus, this is not the narrative any longer. Now, Christmas in our home is about Jesus, family traditions, rest, and peace.Christmas is about the simple gospel of God with us, Emmanuel. It’s about being recentered in the beauty of His life, His love, and His willingness to come to us and reconcile the world back to The Father. It’s about the joy and hope that is, and can only be, found in His presence and love.
