We were hardly past Labor Day when it started: the holiday shopping CRAZY.
Earlier every year, isn’t it? Now let me quickly point out that I can tolerate a lot of shopping—a lot. I have an extremely high threshold for that kind of thing. But I noticed a few weeks into last season’s Christmas shopping mania that my stamina had started to wane.
I think a lot of it was because instead of “Christmas spirit,” many of the people I ran into had more of a “bliss-less spirit.” No detectable joy to the world. Zero holiday glee. Even less patience.
On one of the shopping days last year, for instance, I was pretty sure I got overcharged, but I didn’t say anything.
Why? Because, as my daughter pointed out, the salesperson was a very sturdy, very Nordic-looking woman with one large eyebrow and no smile, and I feared her greatly. When I merely cleared my throat, she raised half of the eyebrow threateningly, and I stayed quiet until my near-sprint out of there.
I could’ve been missing a “buy one, get 40 free” kind of bargain, and I still wouldn’t have said anything. Sometimes I have to stop to consider if a conflict could kick off my village’s pillaging and/or plundering.
We need a Jesus-reminder every single step along the way, all through the season.
Have you ever thought about the fact that on that first Christmas, there was no shopping? Weird thought, isn’t it? The good news of great joy the angel announced to the shoppers … I mean … the shepherds … was the fantastic news of the Savior’s birth.
The incredible story from Luke 2:8-11 is for us to enjoy in every little part of our calendar year. “In the same region, shepherds were staying out in the fields and keeping watch at night over their flock. Then an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified.
“But the angel said to them, ‘Don’t be afraid, for look, I proclaim to you good news of great joy that will be for all the people: Today a Savior, who is Messiah the Lord, was born for you in the city of David,’” (HCSB).
Keeping watch over the sales by the newspaper? Keeping watch over the emall by Internet? Whatever we’re watching, may we remember that it’s all about Jesus our King. Praise God the Father for the history-rocking, eternity-locking birth of the King. Not “Vi”-King. THE King. What a wonder that Christ was born. Can you believe that God came into this world as a less-than-sturdy human with the sole purpose of making way for our eternal salvation?
And what a wonder that he came knowing the cost of our salvation would be his very life. No coupon special. No buy one, get one. No sale of this century or any other can compare with the purchase of our eternity by the blood of Jesus.
Remembering Christ.
That adds the bliss right back into every season. Even the shopping seasons. Probably even shopping in turn-of-the-century Scandinavia.
Find more fa-la-la-la funnies like this in Rhonda’s new book, co-authored with Beth Duewel, Fix Her Upper Christmas. Available now wherever books are sold. fix-her-upper.com
