Christmas is

Our youth and children presented the church service yesterday. The music was beautiful.The sheep were adorable. The message was heartfelt. One line stood out to me amidst all of it. It keeps coming back to me. The essence of the line is this, “Christmas isn’t something you make. Christmas is.”

My favorite part of this Christmas season has been the understanding of the meaning of Advent. It’s been consciously preparing my heart for Jesus. 

It’s been spending my time fostering connections and building relationships rather than buying things. 

Typically I spend lots of time each Christmas trying to figure out the best gifts to get the people I love. This year, I’ve put much less focus and worry on that. 

Typically I spend lots of time making things for people as that’s always been one of the ways for me to express my love without making myself too vulnerable. But somewhere along the line this became more of a habit than a true labor of love. I’ve done much less of that this year. I’ve only made a few things. 

Only one has been a true labor of love and, in the making, I was blessed as much as the recipient, as I spent much of the creation time praying for the one to wear it.

This year instead of giving things, I’ve given of myself. The deepest parts of myself. I have made myself vulnerable and truly real to those I care most about. 

I have learned to step out of my no touch safe zone and enter other peoples spaces, physically and emotionally, to connect with them on a level that wouldn’t have been possible if I had held myself back in an effort to protect myself. 

I have opened my heart and my soul to all of you over these past months. As a way to heal myself. But in a way they God has used to help to heal others. 

In the giving of myself, I have received so much more than I have given. And so much more than I would have received by just giving things. 

I am so grateful for the gift of Jesus that we celebrate this time of year. I pray that we remember always, not just this time of the year, that Christmas is. Today and every day.