The sweet lady in the check out line asks, “Are you ready for Christmas?”   I smile and nod, but my mind immediately goes to my list of things left undone.

The presents are not wrapped, the cards have not been sent, and I’ve resorted to making the sugar cookies from a tube.  (Alright, I do that anyway.)

I push my cart towards the parking lot wondering, “When did I let the celebration of our Savior’s birth turn into a to-do list?”  In the midst of the shopping, the lights, and the parties, I so often forget to celebrate why we have Christmas in the first place.

Don’t get me wrong.  I love to hear the carols on the radio, to see the stores decorated in their grandeur and houses lit up with brilliant color.  But, what is it about all of those things that leave me feeling a bit empty and sad?  Maybe it’s that whatever I try to prepare for this grand event never quite looks like the picture on the Christmas card.

Yesterday, I asked my kids what they wanted for Christmas dinner.  Maddie shouted, “shrimp poppers!”

What?!?!

“Yeah, we have those every year!”

No we don’t.

But to her credit, we did have them last year.  We came home from Christmas Eve service and I had nothing prepared so I dumped a box of frozen shrimp poppers on a pan, threw them in the oven, and we ate them on paper plates by candlelight.

Fancy.

But here’s the deal.  We’re not fancy.  And as much as the thought of her adding “shrimp poppers” to her childhood Christmas memories makes me cringe a little bit, that’s not the thing that matters.  What matters is that she’ll also remember her dad reading the Christmas story to her and to her brother and sisters.  She’ll remember how he always told them about how God used ordinary people in an extraordinary way to save those that He loved.  And let me tell you…none of those people were fancy.

So what if I asked you the same question the clerk asked me…

Are you ready for Christmas?

For a moment, put down the scissors and the Scotch tape.  Set the frosting and the sprinkles on the counter and think about what it REALLY means to be ready.

What does it mean to prepare our hearts for the coming of a King?  A Rescuer, a Redeemer, a Savior, and Friend?

Stop for a moment and in the midst of trying to get everything just perfect…

Pause.

Remember.

Go back and read the story again.

Friends, it was not perfect.  It wasn’t fancy or glamorous.  Mary was a young girl.  Joseph was a carpenter and of all places to give birth to any baby, let alone a King, Jesus was born in a stable. He was born in the presence of the animals that lived there.  His earthly father made a bed out of a feeding trough and in that ordinary place, He entered the world.  There was no grand march or parade and who’s to say that the hay really smelled sweet?

His mother had nothing.  And yet…she had it ALL.  In that moment, she held a little baby AND the Creator of the Universe in her arms.

And to top it all off, who did God choose to tell first?  Who did he tell about this event that would change the world forever…some lowly shepherds.  People that were thought of as not having any worth and yet, He chose to share this Good News with them before anyone else.

Is that a coincidence?  Absolutely not.  It points to the fact that He came for all of us.

The angels said, “Come and see, today, in the city of Bethlehem.  A Savior has been born.”

A Savior.

One that would save us.  You and me.

Why? Why might we need saving?  Because we are NOT perfect.  I don’t know about you, but perfection has been my enemy for far too long.  Never will I be perfect. I struggle with sin every single day and that sin would have separated me from God.

But, then came Jesus.  

It is only by the blood of Jesus Christ that our sins are wiped away.

That baby that came to live amongst us, He WAS perfect and He would later die for us that we might be with Him forever.

That, my friends, is reason to celebrate!  He came for ALL of us.  From the shepherds to the rulers of kingdoms.  He loves us all.

Don’t you forget that. And in the times when it seems that you’ve made too many mistakes, messed up one too many times, remember… He doesn’t ask you to clean it all up first.  He’ll meet you right where you’re at.

Be like those shepherds who dropped everything to go and see what all the fuss was about.  Who is this Jesus and why does He love you SO much?  He does, dear friend.  He really does.

Go! Tell about all that He has done. Tell what Jesus has done IN you and FOR you so that others might know Him, too. Share your story. Not just the picture on the Christmas card, but the real, ugly, beautiful, ordinary, extraordinary, shrimp popper, paper plate, wonderful story.

Merry Christmas to you and may Christ be the reason you celebrate!