Excellent piece from Ashley McCully looking into where it came from in the first place, how it was lost, and how we can find it again.
Finding Wonder in Christmas as Adults
My children finish school for the 2025 calendar year tomorrow, and that means we can finally go nuts for Christmas. Days filled with making gingerbread houses, sipping hot cocoa, gluing macaroni and popsicle sticks, and rocking out to festive tunes are on the horizon. For children, this is a season of promise and wonder. For adults, it’s wrangling sugar-fueled kids, standing in lines to pay too much for something no one truly needs, and reminiscing about the good ol’ days. Not very magical.Even as we age, though, we all remain children of God. In fact, Jesus tells us in the Book of Matthew that we must become like little children if we want to enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Take a moment and think about a kid in your life and their perspective during this time.
Flying reindeer, a snowy workshop where every toy is made for a specific child, a jolly man who goes up and down chimneys — children hope and believe in things they’ve never seen. Their faith in this goodness is inexplicable. Ask a kindergartener why they believe in Santa and you’ll find an unfounded conviction that would rival a honey badger.
When was the last time we really examined our faith? Believing in God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit; the Christ child born of the Virgin Mary; the power and redemption of baptism; the resurrection of Jesus and his defeat of death; and life everlasting for those who give their life to the Lord. These are not light tenets, and it can be daunting to confront them.
One of our family traditions is cruising neighborhoods looking at Christmas lights. The bigger and brighter the display, the more mesmerized my kids are. They float between exuberance and awe, sometimes pointing and shouting things like “Epic!” and “Wow!” They are demanding I “look over there!”
Just as children believe because they are innocent, they get excited because things are still new to them. How easy is it for us to become room temperature in our faith? Imagine a first grader seeing 40,000 twinkling lights in a 300 square foot space and saying “meh.” When was the last time we really examined our faith? Here we have the greatest gift in the world — eternal salvation! — and we fail to be impressed.
God wants us to be delighted and He plants surprises for us everywhere, but we have to be willing to look and anticipate His creativity. Sure, we may be caught off-guard by a brilliant sunrise or encouraged by a random flower pushing out of a crack in the sidewalk, but the Lord knows we as adults require mental stimulation.
I shouldn’t even have to tell y’all to read all of it, but I will anyhow.
- Entries
I get amazed all the time:
The technology works! The FIRST time!
I woke up without anything aching!
The MANY times God was looking out for me when I’m driving!
I actually slept for more than 3 hours at a time!
Just walking out on the deck, with a cup of coffee, enjoying the early morning sounds.
The times my husband listens to me complain, without feeling the need to point out that I’m being unreasonable.
Those are just a few I could think of offhand.