The Simpler the Better

     I have to credit Katie Barber for much of this posting. Sunday morning as part of our Advent series at LCC, she spoke about how we always try to make our holiday season bigger and better than the year before and spoke about peace and finding it in the midst of a busy season. I have really been trying to digest that information. I mean, it seems really simple, but it's so tough for me to let go of the "Martha Stewart" perfect Christmas that my brain is telling me I have to have or else...or else, what? Will my boys have more or less fun if I am crazy about all the details? Will my husband enjoy these precious weeks of the holiday season with me if I am stressed about every gift on the list to be bought, the ever-important cheesecake recipe choice for Christmas Eve, or keeping the house in tip-top yuletide shape?

     I like to think that simplifying is going to amplify our enjoyment of the holiday season rather than diminish the memories. So, instead of picking up my kids' toys 10 times throughout the day to put them away and keep my house spotless, I'm going to sit down and play with them by the tree. Instead of struggling to find those "perfect gifts" which do not exist anyway, I'm going to be happy to settle this year for less than perfect. I will be exchanging aimless hours walking around busy, crowded stores for time spent enjoying my family at home. Instead of poring through cookbooks to find the most impressive (i.e. stress inducing) dessert recipes, I am going to go with simple, standard, time-tested favorites. Another activity I intend to pursue with great diligence this Christmas season is sitting down with my Bible and reflecting daily on the gift of the Word made flesh.

     I love a Christmas devotional book I've been reading entitled "The Glory of Christmas" by Charles Swindoll, Max Lucado, and Charles Colson. My reading for today confirmed that I need to calm down about the things that do not matter this Christmas and re-focus. I know it's a little long, but I'd like to share with you a portion of what I read this morning:
  
     "There is one word that describes the night He came- ordinary. The sky was ordinary. An occasional gust stirred the leaves and chilled the air. The stars were diamonds sparkling on black velvet. Fleets of clouds floated in front of the moon. 
     It was a beautiful night-a night worthy peeking out your bedroom window to admire-but not really an unusual one. No reason to expect a surprise. Nothing to keep a person awake. An ordinary night with an ordinary sky. 
     The sheep were ordinary. Some fat. Some scrawny. Some with barrel bellies. Some with twig legs, Common animals. No fleece made of gold. No history makers. They were simply sheep-lumpy, sleeping silhouettes on a hillside. 
     And the shepherds. Peasants they were. Probably wearing all the clothes they owned. Smelling like sheep and looking just as woolly. You won't find their staffs in a museum nor their writings in a library. They were nameless and simple. 
     An ordinary night with ordinary sheep and ordinary shepherds. And were it not for a God who loves to hook an 'extra' on the front of the ordinary, the night would have gone unnoticed.
     But God dances amidst the common. And that night He did a waltz. The black sky exploded with brightness. Trees that had been shadows jumped into clarity. Sheep that had been silent became a chorus of curiosity. One minute the shepherd was asleep, the next he was rubbing his eyes and staring into the face of an alien.
     The night was ordinary no more. The angel came in the night because that is when lights are best seen and that is when they are most needed. God comes into the common for the same reason. 
     His most powerful tools are the simplest."




     I get so distracted with all of the seemingly important parts of the Christmas season that I forget to enjoy it more often than not. No wonder people, myself included, feel such a letdown the day after Christmas. Now don't get me wrong, I am not going to let my house fall to ruin with layers of clutter and dirt. I am not going to throw my hands up in the air and say, "oh well, no gifts for all of you-I'm enjoying Christmas this year." And I am certainly not going to be mindless about my Christmas Eve dessert. Heaven forbid that I shirk an ounce on dessert making. But I am going to relax. I am not going to get worked up over the pursuit of the "perfect" Christmas. I am going to seek peace in the only place it can be found- in Christ the Lord, the Prince of Peace. And I think in doing so, I am going to find that simple is always best. Just look at the way God chose to reveal himself to us: Not in a palatial mansion...in a small cave, in the countryside, in the dead of night. And angels announced His coming to the most simple and common people in the culture. When I consider the Christmas story, I come to the conclusion that simple is the only way to go when it comes to Christmas.

How about you? How do you intend to find true peace this Christmas season?