Beautiful Endings

     Happy Christmas! The season is upon us and it's honestly come much faster than I was prepared for. As much as it feels like years have passed since March, the holiday months have been busy and fast approaching. Last year, my December post was about beginnings and though I believe that with new year so close, beginnings wouldn't be an inappropriate topic to discuss, I want to talk about endings. This year isn't one that people are likely to forget and I want to give as much encouragement as I can.

    Why do we celebrate Christmas? Why is it such a big deal? We forget so easily what it's about in our effort to make sure that everyone has gifts that have been wrapped, to fight with the mail system, to make sure food is sorted, and that everything is as perfect as we can manage. Christmas is about us and our traditions. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy the lights and nativity's, even the presents when my insecurities let me. I look forward to lamb for dinner and mince pies for dessert. I'm excited to create my own traditions one day when I have my own family. I do believe that this is also important to our humanity. This season is supposed to be about joy, kindness, and generosity as much as it's about love. The reason why we celebrate Christmas is because of Jesus' birth but we can't forget why He came in the first place.

    I don't want to belittle the birth, don't get me wrong. The whole thing was a miracle. In my last post, I talked about Mary and her willingness and even Joseph's openness. Before that, God had made a way in Elizabeth and Zacharias and after, he sent the Maggi to give provision and angels to protect them. It's incredible that Jesus would even come in the first place. It's so hard to imagine someone who was fully God and still fully man. His birth is as great an act of love as His death. Jesus lived, He experienced childhood and puberty, pain and anger and compassion and heartbreak. He lived among His people and He loved them. As Christians, Jesus is our example for how to live. God's generosity never ceases to amaze me. Before I was even born, God was making a way for me to have a relationship with Him and that started with a girl and her baby. It is a great act of love to live but that is not the only reason why He came.

    Maybe it's at least a little ridiculous to be talking about Jesus' death at Christmas instead of at Easter but like I said, I want to talk about endings. Yes, Jesus' life was an act of love, it was a miracle and an example. That doesn't change that perhaps His biggest purpose was to die. I like the parallel between His words and His mothers. In Luke 1, Mary says, "As you have said, let it be done to me." In Luke 22, Jesus says, "Yet not My will, but Your will, be done." I've talked before about the weight of His death. Jesus was the only person in the world to ever be truly alone. He was the only one that God ever pulled away from but He loved us enough to see it through to the end and fulfil God's promise to us.

    I want God's will to be done in my life more than my own. The reason why I am enough is because God chose me. More than anything else has had a hold of me, I want God to occupy the empty places inside of me. God and His love is the only thing that can make something beautiful out of my life. Jesus came out of love to die for us and I want to remember that this season because it's really not about us. Jesus came so we could find our lives by His side and I'm so grateful for the opportunity to be so loved. Luke 1:78-79 says this: "All this will flow from the kind and compassionate mercy of our God. A new day is dawning; the Sunrise from the heavens will break through our darkness, And those who huddle in the night, those who sit in the shadow of death, Will be able to rise and walk in the light, guided in the pathway of peace." Jesus' birth and death is what allows us to have a relationship with the One who created us. He has a plan for our lives that is bigger than we can ever know and worth dying for.

    I wish you all the merriest of Christmases!  I still have one more post after this one which is exciting. This year was good for the blog, I've never updated this regularly and I'll my best to keep it up in the new year. I pray that God continues to work through me and give me the words to write. This is for His glory more than my own. I also pray that He continues to pour His love out over you in every circumstance. Thank you to everyone who has read my blog this year and Happy Christmas!

Yours Truly,

Rey