I was sitting in my living room today feeling a bit overwhelmed. Can any of you relate? I began to look around and suddenly felt the weight of post-Christmas. There’s a tree that needs to be un-decorated. There are stockings that need to come down. There’s a giant Thomas the Train and tracks covering the entire floor of my living room and even part of my dining room. There are little bits of wrapping paper still scattered on my floor. I could go on. I’m sure you could too.
I love Christmas, and I love it more now that I have children than when I was a child. Seeing their joy on Christmas morning or how adorable they looked in their Christmas PJs was seriously the best. But the day after Christmas? How it suddenly seems to all end so fast? It kinda makes me sad and overwhelmed.
As my to-do list was forming in my head this morning, the Lord led me to think about the very first Christmas and how the different people who experienced it responded. Let’s take a look at how Mary and the shepherds responded to Jesus’ birth…
Now that I’m a mom, Mary’s response has become so sweet to me. The Bible tells us that Mary pondered the things that had happened in her heart . “But Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart.” Luke 2:19 (ESV). We see two responses from the shepherds who visited Jesus on the night of His birth. First, we see that the shepherds told others about Jesus and who He was. “And all who heard it wondered at what the shepherds told them.” Luke 2:18 (ESV). Second, we see that they glorified and praised God after meeting Jesus. “And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them.” Luke 2:20 (ESV).
We don’t seen anxiousness or a feeling of being overwhelmed (in a negative way… I’m sure they were all overwhelmed with joy!) in any of their responses. The long awaited Savior of the world had been born! Jesus had come to reconcile man and God, to save the people from their sins. This is the BEST news in the entire world! The Light of the World had arrived. There was no need for anxiousness or post-Christmas blues.
Friends, after Christmas, we should respond how Mary and the shepherds did. Yes, we still have things to do (sadly, those dishes in my sink won’t magically clean themselves…), but let’s live post-Christmas like Mary and the shepherds did. Let’s treasure up these things in our heart. Treasure your children’s Christmas morning faces. Treasure how absolutely awesome it is that the God of the universe chose to be born to save us from our sins. Let’s tell others about Jesus like the shepherds did. Tell others of the good news of the Gospel and why Jesus was born. Let’s leave Christmas glorifying and praising God for all that He has done, just as the shepherds did after they met Jesus.
Yes, December 25th has ended, but what Jesus did for us by being born, living the perfect life, dying a terrible death on the cross, and then rising again on the 3rd day, all of that is still totally true. And what it means for us- that those who accept Jesus can now have a relationship with Him and eternal life- has not ended just because a holiday has. Let’s live with the joy of what Jesus did for us on Christmas (and Easter!) daily, not just on Christmas day!
“And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of heavenly host praising God and saying, ‘Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom He is pleased!'” Luke 2:13-14 (ESV)
diariesofadaughter.com 