Giving Up on Perfect

The vast majority of Christmas cards that are sent each year feature scenes that depict the beauty and wonder of that silent night. The hills where the shepherds watched their flocks are perfectly manicured and bathed in a heavenly light. The wise men look especially regal as they move effortlessly through the last few miles of their journey to find the newborn king. The holy family looks especially serene as they gaze at the baby who is smiling happily from the finely crafted wooden box lined with golden strands of hay.

While these pictures help put us in the mood for a happy holiday season, they may also keep us from remembering the first Christmas was really quite messy and uncertain. Whether it was a barn or a cave, if it was the place where the animals were kept overnight, it smelled like animals. Even after travelling for a couple of days and spending the night in AAA rated facilities, most people tend to become travel weary—and it shows. I’ve been to Bethlehem—the hillsides around the city have never been at risk of being mistaken for a golf course.

If that is not enough, consider all the messy and uncertain personal and relational struggles that are a part of the story. Mary is still unmarried when she learns she is going to have a child. Joseph is caught in quandary. Mary’s cousin, Elizabeth—who is decades older and now a few months more pregnant than Mary—makes some incredible predictions about their children. On top of all that, everyone in the region has their agenda reordered by the command of the leader of the occupying foreign power.  

The first Christmas was not the neat, tidy event pictured in our nativity scenes and greeting cards. If you want this to be a different kind of Christmas, you need to give up on creating the “perfect” Christmas and remember that God shows up in the middle of the mess to bring us a message of hope.  

The miracle God wants to accomplish through you may start when you focus on helping someone you know who is struggling. Commit to praying for them, ask how you can help, and follow through with help and encouragement.  Or maybe you should consider how God can use your current struggles to help others this holiday season.

Even in the midst of the unexpected, the messy, and the devastating, you can still fully expect God to show up. May God give you eyes to see the Savior’s gracious presence in the midst of our messy, uncertain lives. This is truly what Christmas is about.