My hubby and I struggled this year with how we wanted to celebrate Christmas.
We knew we wanted to celebrate Jesus, but how?
We both grew up in families where we celebrated the holiday more so than The Savior. Lots of gifts, Christmas trees, all of the festivities. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that there is anything wrong with it, but for us it became an idol. We would be excited to open gifts, but not excited about a Savior who was given to us. We would anxiously await the delicious food, not anxiously await worship of The Christ. We looked forward to spending time with family, but not spending time with Jesus. How can we claim that Jesus is the reason for the season, but never acknowledge Him on HIS birthday? Chris and I saw a problem with what we believed Christmas to be and what Christmas was truly about.
So in an effort to radically change how our family celebrates Christ on HIS birthday, we began searching for church services we could attend. To our shock, not many of the Lord's houses were open for worship on HIS birthday. Hmmph. I thought that's where the party should get started. . . In His House!
Well, that ruled out that option.
Why was this such a struggle? Why couldn't we figure out what to do for Jesus on His birthday? Why? ! Sadly, we never had to consider it.
It wasn't until two days before Christmas, listening to Little Drummer Boy, we made the decision. The little drummer boy had nothing of worth to give this newborn King, so he thought. But he knew that he could play his drum. So he decided to give the King of Kings his best. . . His all! And I know the angels rejoiced with him because that's worship.
We knew we had to WORSHIP. If churches were closed, we will have a worship service in our home. We will invite Jesus in to watch us sing our best to Him, play our best for Him, and rejoice in Him!
And that's what we did.
It was amazing watching a 1 year old, 2 year old, 4 year old, 5 year old, and 7 year old WORSHIP. (My nieces and nephew were with us.) Those children sang their hearts out! They lifted their hands and were excited to celebrate JESUS. We read the Word of God and discussed why Christmas is so important. We watched worship videos from The Planetshakers, Chris Tomlin, Israel Houghton, Hillsong. .. to name a few. The children watched mommy and daddy praise and worship and they just followed along.
It wasn't about gifts, food, or people it was about Jesus Christ.
I believe we started a tradition this year that will just get bigger and better as the years go on.
Making disciples starts at home.
