It's December 15th.
December is reaching an end. Christmas is almost here and another year will soon be complete. The cold has settled around our house on this quiet night and while everything around me is still, my mind wanders beyond the stars. My daughters are tucked in bed sleeping as I sit positioned under a warm fuzzy blanket, cozy in my living room beneath the yellow glow of our Christmas tree. Exhausted from another busy weekend, my gaze remains fixed on hundreds of artificial forest green branches draped with only a few simple yellow lights and a burlap bow on top. I have yet to make a trip to my nearest Hobby Lobby to buy the ornaments for our Christmas tree. My girls have been all but bursting at the seams to hang our old ornaments which are neatly boxed upstairs. I can imagine them decorating the limbs with all our previous years' collection, the tree gobbed with a variety of Santa, snowmen and Disney characters galore. Still, I have asked them to wait on my promised trip to buy new ones with hopes of creating a fresh new Jesus theme because this December I want to do things differently. I want to unplug from the world and connect to our savior.
It's December 15th.
My tree stands nearby looking back at me, probably feeling naked and concerned about its lacking of bling and I can't help but feel defeated. I should have decorated it sooner. I beat myself up daily with what I should have done, comparing myself to other mothers. If I were a boxer in the ring, I would be glistening with sweat, stumbling and weary, black and blue, standing on my last limb. In the midst of my emotions, I am educated enough to straighten up and remember that those feelings are a lie from the enemy and so I refuse to succumb to my wounds. In an attempt to understand where these feelings of comparison come from and why do I constantly compare myself to the world, I did a little research.
Galatians 1:10 says "Am I now trying to win the approval of human beings, or of God? Or am I trying to please people? If I were still trying to please people, I would not be a servant of Christ."
In 2 Corinthians 10:12, Paul writes, "We do not dare to classify or compare ourselves with some who commend themselves. When they measure themselves by themselves and compare themselves with themselves, they are not wise."
"Oh, pray to be preserved from this perilous pinnacle of self-exaltation. Look into the perfect law of liberty, and draw nigh to God. The nearer we come to God, the more rottenness we find in our bones." (Trapp, 1865-68)
I have also read several scholarly reviewed articles regarding everything from the first Christmas to holiday commercialism, where the Christmas tree came from, and even Santa Claus. Without writing an essay on the knowledge I've obtained, I've concluded that 'You are You', you are incomparable, you cannot be matched, you are who God created you to be. Society and tradition will tell you how to live, how to blend in, and how to be normal. The world will compare you and categorize you, but you are not of this world.
American society is different from society in Japan or Africa. December traditions are different, each with their own accumulated ideas passed down from their ancestors. Our society says that during December, Christmas trees have ornaments and lots of them. We should post pictures of our trees on social media, teach our children about Santa, drown our homes in trendy décor, dress mostly in green and red, and most recently move an elf daily to maintain our children's belief of a man-made story. Although fun and memorable, these are learned traditions. They were taught to us as children. We learn at a young age to compare, categorize, and match our neighbor at Christmas. This is what we do to fit in with those around us. Can you hear them now if you didn't fit in? "The Bakers don't even have an Elf on the Shelf, those poor kids." Or, "Let's pray for the Smith family! They couldn't afford to buy gifts for poor kids in the community, kids in their child's classroom, kids at the church, kids across the street, or kids in another country." Or even, "Christmas is about giving and Aunt Linda didn't buy all my kids something for Christmas but I bought all her kid's gifts." Give, give, give, just to get, get, get. Expectations from the world pushing in on you from every direction trying to obligate you to keep up.
It's December 15th.
Today one of my daughters mentioned for the millionth time that our tree was still not decorated, and it hurt my feelings. Emotions flooded my body and it broke my heart. But why? Because I want to fit in? Because I want my child to have everything other children have? Because I want to keep up with those around me? Because I like little plastic balls and hooky things? Why were my feelings hurt? I imagine I felt that way because of the world around me. Romans 12:2 says, "Do not conform to the pattern of this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will."
So what's my point? Well, the world will tell you that you must be a certain way, but God will tell you that he is the only way. John 14:6 Jesus answered, " I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." Which way are you following? Jesus or the world? He is who we must attempt to match. He is who we must compare ourselves to daily. He is the category we must strive to fit in. He is the original tradition. God our Father, creator of the universe, the sender of our savior, forgiver of our sins, the way to follow, and the only tradition we should ever get upset over if not honored in December.
It's December 15th.
A glass of water, 2 bathroom breaks, and 12 different sitting positions later, I shift my attention back to our Christmas tree, absorbed in its yellow ambiance. Tomorrow I will make the trip to buy my Jesus ornaments that will soon dress our tree. I'll be about $75 poorer and will have been suckered by society's commercialism schemes, but what the world doesn't know is......this December things will be different.
Jesus will replace the world.
Jesus.
(Unplugs Christmas tree)
References: Bible Trapp, John. "Commentary on 2 Corinthians 10:4". John Trapp Complete Commentary. https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/jtc/2-corinthians-10.html. 1865-1868.