Happy Birthday, Jesus!

Today I am celebrating a birthday.  You see, my oldest child was born 32 years ago on this day.  Now he is married and lives far away; but I will always remember the day he was born.  And while I don’t spend time with him on his birthday anymore, I’m thankful for our close relationship and the joy both he and his wife bring to our family (I get to see them soon!)

I’m sure my son hasn’t always appreciated having his birthday so close to Christmas (neither did our pocketbook!), but there is something special about having a baby during this season.  I can remember how much easier it was to relate to the humanness of Jesus’ mother, Mary, as I gingerly sat on a sheepskin-covered wooden bench to become part of a living nativity scene in the church Sunday school Christmas program just four days after he was born.  And, through the years, we have had a constant reminder of what we are celebrating on Christmas Day when we have celebrated our child’s birthday eleven days before.  I don’t want to lose track of that reminder just because I no longer celebrate with my son.

Yesterday we had a missionary speaker at church that was dynamic in both his delivery and his message.  One thing he said that I want to remember relates to Christmas being Jesus’ birthday.  He asked this question: “If Christmas is Jesus’ birthday, why don’t we give gifts to HIM instead of each other?”  I think that is very profound.  While there’s not necessarily anything wrong with giving gifts to those we love at Christmas, we can easily move away from a proper spirit of giving if we don’t use this season as a time to reflect on God’s gift to us and what our response should be. 

Jesus told us that he really only wants two gifts from us: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength . . . Love your neighbor as yourself” (Mark 12:30-31).  During this season, we do a better job of giving the second gift than the first.  We feel compelled by the warm, fuzzy feeling of Christmas to reach out and give to our neighbors – even those we don’t know.  That’s a good thing, but according to what Jesus said, it shouldn’t just happen at Christmas.

Nor should the first gift – the gift of ourselves to our wonderful and worthy God and Savior.  Heart, soul, mind, and strength pretty much sums up every part of our inner being; and loving God that way is hard work for us humans.  That’s because we are by nature selfish and easily drawn away from that which really matters.  Jesus knew we needed to have his words forever written down if we had any hope of giving to him what pleases him most. 

This Christmas, let’s focus more on what we can give to Jesus than what we give to each other.  Let’s not forget whose birthday it really is!  And then let’s remember to keep giving these two gifts of love throughout the coming year – making Christmas this year the starting point of a changed perspective on what matters most.  Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas!