Christmas is in one week.

I’m so ready for it; except I’m not.

That’s a strange thing to say.

I’m always ready for Christmas, I’ll forever be ready and excited to celebrate the day we celebrate the birth of our Lord, King Jesus, but the holidays can be a messy and stressful time.

I was speaking on the phone with a friend this afternoon for quite some time about the hardships of this season when dealing with messy family circumstances. My heart hurt for her and the pain that she was experiencing. This should be the most joyful time of the year, and it truly is at the heart of the matter, yet for so many it simply comes with dreaded anxiety, pressures, and unmet expectations.

There are many who are hurting this season because of broken homes due to separation, divorces, addictions, etc. There are people who are feeling lonely and deep pangs of grief as they’re experiencing their very first Christmas without a loved one who has passed away.

I watch movies on Netflix, I’m a sucker for the Christmas Hallmark specials, and as much as I love snuggling up under the comforter and enjoying a good flick, I’m also painfully aware of how vulnerable I am to the “comparison” war I play in my head. I like to compare what my Christmas is like to every movie I see on TV. I think how wonderful that must be and I truly would love for ours to be so picture perfect over here. Families singing Christmas carols together, getting up in the morning and sharing cocoa while we laugh and enjoy the day with extended family; large family gatherings. It hurts. But life is messy.

Christmas is a very bittersweet time.

But the meaning of Christmas is to celebrate the birth of Christ.  Jesus, fully man and fully God (God in the flesh), came into the world to become one of us so that He might deliver us from our sins. He lived a perfect life and then He died a blameless death on the cross . . . to save us. We should recognize that Jesus is truly the reason for the season and appreciate Christmas for what it is, the celebration of our Lord’s birth; without Him we’d all die sinners deaths.

I’m so glad that God is bigger than my feelings. I’m so glad that God is bigger than the gifts under the Christmas tree. I’m so glad that God is bigger than the messily-preschooler-decorated Christmas tree in my living room. I’m so glad that God is bigger than the comparison war waging in my head. I’m so glad that God is bigger than the family brokenness. I’m so glad that God is bigger than the tears falling from the newly widowed woman’s eyes this season. I’m so glad that God is bigger than the hole in the grieving mothers heart this Christmas. I’m so glad that God is bigger than my fears, anxiety, and expectations. I’m so glad that God is bigger than “my Christmas”.

God’s bigger than your Christmas, too!

“She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus,  because he will save his people from their sins.” Matthew 1:21

“The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel” (which means “God with us”). ”  Matthew 1:23

“The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.”  John 1:14

“Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!”  2 Corinthians 9:15