gift of love

Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son... (1 John 4:10)
so, here i sit in Houston's airport, composing blog entries with pen & paper, and wishing i had a laptop with a wireless internet connection. i've spent the last hour or so flipping through the December issues of the magazines i subscribe to, seeing gorgeous photos of outdoor holiday decorating ideas -- evergreen & luminaries surrounded by drifts of snow -- and even though i know from years of experience how cold that makes it, i can't help but to wish i could recreate these snow-covered Winter Wonderland scenes. these are the visual associations i have with being "really Christmas."

i feel nostalgic for the things i can't have living in Florida. things like wishing for the magic of a white Christmas, or waking to find the whole world edged in delicate frost. i'm not foolish enough to believe i could tolerate the cold Winter air anymore, at least not without complaint. (if we're being honest, i am reaching for a sweater when the temperature drops below 65 now.) but this time of year often sends us on a journey, revisiting our childhoods and the memories that remain precious to us, long after they have become part of our histories and no longer our present. we grow up. we move forward with our lives, carrying pieces of our treasured traditions with us, weaving them with those we make for ourselves.

we say we love certain aspects of the Christmas season. we find gifts for our loved ones, wrap them with colorful paper & ribbons. we retell the stories of the First Christmas and of Santa Claus, filling our children's eyes & faces with wonder & excitement, transported back to our own childhoods in that same moment. somehow, though the whole spirit of Christmas is to be one of love, i feel like it's so easy to miss the real Love that is at the very core of Christmas. the reason for all of this... *stuff*. we're not supposed to buy & wrap gifts just because we love someone. they are supposed to be reminders. reminders of that one gift of Love we were given on that First Christmas:

A gift of love was given to the world so long ago
Lying in a manger, He was wrapped in swaddling clothes
Now every year, we celebrate and thank the Lord above
And give to one another, our little gifts of love

unless you really make yourself look past all the commercialism, it's so easy to get caught up in the materialistic attributes of Christmas. and that was never the point or purpose. it's not about budgets & lists & quantity. these gifts we exchange are supposed to be reminders to us of the gift we were given, the gift that is at the center of Christmas: one little baby. 

so though i miss the snow-covered wonderland, that doesn't make Christmas any less. none of it does. the only awe & amazement i need to feel, the only gift there truly *must* be, is to be reminded that God, made man, out of love beyond my understanding, came to earth as a tiny helpless baby, for me. without *that* -- and that alone -- there is no Christmas.

O come, all ye faithful,
Joyful and triumphant,
Come ye, O come yes to Bethlehem
Come and behold Him,
Born the King of Angels:
O come, let us adore Him,
O come, let us adore Him,
O come, let us adore Him,
Christ, the Lord
("O Come, All Ye Faithful," Music: John Francis Wade, 1743.
Words: translation by Frederick Oakely.)