Devotion: A Messy Christmas

For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. (Isaiah 9:6)

A couple years ago, our family had what was absolutely our most messy Christmas ever. In the 48 hours before Christmas Eve, almost the entire family caught a stomach bug. Now when I say messy, I mean literally messy! There are 7 people in our family, so that is a whole lot of mess to clean up! It was not a pretty picture.

I LOVE holidays, and I really love Christmas. I was so disappointed I had to spend our holiday time cleaning up yucko messes that year. To make matters more complicated, my husband is the pastor of our church, and he got better just in time to rush to the church and deliver the Christmas Eve sermon to close to 1,000 people. That was definitely a Christmas our family won’t forget!

There’s another Christmas that was really messy, and that’s the first Christmas. Jesus was not born into pretty, pleasant conditions. He was born in a stable, surrounded by animals, to a young mom who was away from the support of her family. His first bed was a feeding trough.

Talk about messy.

Isaiah 9:6 tells us that the Savior is our “Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” Yet He humbled himself, had a messy birth, and came into our messy world. He did all of that to me among us and for us.

This Christmas, let’s worry less about our flub-ups, hassles, and drama. Let’s be thankful we have a Savior who is willing to step right into the middle of our mess to save us for all eternity.

[bctt tweet=”This Christmas, let’s worry less about our flub-ups, hassles, and drama.”]

Dear God, My Christmas holidays can get really messy sometimes. They are not always the picture-perfect holiday I have planned in my mind. Help me to remember the first Christmas. You came into a messy world in order to give me the ultimate Christmas gift – salvation for all eternity. Thank you. In Jesus precious name I pray, Amen.