O Come Let Us Adore Him

Merry Christmas, sweet friend! 

The presents are all wrapped under the tree, meals are planned, outfits are ironed, my house is clean only to be made messy again with wrapping paper and toys. It’s here. Christmas is here.

All the hustle and bustle slows down today. The whole month we’ve prepared for this. And for some reason, I expected the messy life I lived yesterday to disappear this morning when I woke up, because it’s Christmas. 

I was driving down the road this morning sobbing, reminded of my brokenness. And the brokenness of the lives around me. I actually appolgized to the Lord for crying on His birthday. 

“Lord, it’s just so messy,” I said. “It hurts, and doesn’t seem fair. It’s hard and doesn’t look like I thought it would. I’m sorry it’s your birthday and I’m crying. I should be celebrating you and the life I have in you!” 

And as the light turned red at the intersection, the Spirit stopped my heart, saying, “But this is why I gave you Christmas. This is the whole reason for my birthday.

For your mess

.”

I am sure you will read Luke 2 today if you haven’t already. It’s really easy to skim past those words that have become so familiar. But when you think about it, Luke 2 is really messy.

Most of Mary’s labor was spent on a donkey. Can you imagine? I obviously haven’t experienced labor myself, but I was right beside

Selah’s birth mom

 throughout hers. Mary didn’t have ice chips, an epidural, or a nice nurse. She didn’t even have a bed for heaven’s sake.

Joseph was frantically looking for a place for his first son to be born. So they made their way to the stable, the last place left. The nasty, smelly, very unsanitary stable. I can almost hear the King’s first cry and then the cow in the corner let out a “moo.”

Jesus, the Great I Am, Who Was, Is, and Is to come, was wrapped in scraps. And laid in the container where the slobbery animals ate. Messy.

This is where it happens. This is where the glory, grace, and relentless love of the Father intersects my mess.

Precious One, you don’t have to pretend today that you have it altogether for the sake of Christmas. This is Christmas. The whole reason for the Savior’s birth. God gave us Christmas to meet us in our mess. And the most beautiful thing, is that He doesn’t let us stay a mess. He redeems every ugly piece of our lives. He wipes off our face, dusts off our pants, grabs our hand, and rescues.

So this Christmas Eve, I’m bringing mess and all. Because I am not going to miss a chance to adore Him. He is so beautiful, and this gift, The Greatest Gift, is worth anything I can bring.

Come adore Him with me today. Don’t try to get it together, forget the presents, and the places you have to go. Just gaze on His beauty, His grace, and relentless love.

Let us adore Him.