For the last 2 weeks, I have been in Thailand visiting my brother and (soon to be) sister-in-law. The trip has been a whirlwind for sure, but the change of pace in life has been refreshing and was much needed. When we booked our tickets for this trip I knew Christmas was going to look different this year – no rushing around for last minute gifts, no Christmas Eve service at church, no big family dinner with lots of presents to unwrap afterwards. I knew this trip would force me to slow down and soak in the season a little bit more. What I didn’t expect was having to be incredibly intentional to search out for what the true celebration of Christmas is.
We spent our Christmas Day at Tyler and Kendal’s school. The students had class in the morning, a little dance performance after lunch, and English camp in the afternoon. While the worldly idea of Christmas was still there with the tree, Santa suits, and candy, the true celebration and understanding of Christmas was completely missed. What made the whole day even a bit more strange was that the commercialization of Christmas was not really big. Sure, there were still kids that showed up in Santa hats, and were decked out in their green and red, but there was no big show of what they asked for from Santa, or the gifts left for them under the tree. To them is was just another day to go to school, sing a few songs, and eat loads of sugar. Had I not known it was Christmas day, I probably would have let the day pass by as if it were any other ordinary day.
A popular – albeit cheesy – phrase I have heard in the American Church is “Jesus is the reason for the season.” This is so very true, and is the absolute core of the Christian faith, but the question that has been running though my head the last week is this – Why does he only have to be the reason for this one season? Yes, the journey of Advent is a time for us to be intentional in slowing down and soaking in everything about the journey to Bethlehem, and remember that Jesus came to us in the form of a small baby. But if we only allow ourselves to remember those things the 4 weeks leading up to Christmas Day, are we really grasping who Jesus is and how much his love extends to us?
How differently would our lives look if we made Jesus the focus of every season, every day, every hour, every minute? So in the coming weeks, my prayer is that my intentionality for Advent would carry over into every season and moment of my life.
Merry Christmas from Thailand, friends!
Backroads and Detours 