Many thoughts are swirling through my head at this time of year, some on a bigger, global scale, and some much closer to home. I am sitting here on my computer at 11:02 on a Christmas Eve morning, while my children bounce off the walls in their hyper, over-anxious-for-Christmas state of mind. It is a more "joyful" hyper than usual, so I'm just going with it, and hoping my headache does not increase exponentially with the hyper quotient.
On Sunday, in church, there was no Sunday School, and so all the children were in the service with their parents. This makes for a very busy-sounding service, and I find myself distracted from listening to those sermons when my squirmy kids are beside me in the pew. However, our pastor did a phenomenal job incorporating the children into the sermon, throwing out questions and fully expecting an answer shouted back to him. And boy did he get answers! It was pretty great.
His sermon was obviously related to Jesus coming, and he said a couple things that actually addressed a couple of OTHER things that have been bugging me. We have a Christian radio station that puts out these little soundbite blurbs from time to time, and mostly they're just inspirational sayings or quotes. One of them has played for the last several Christmases and it has never sat right with me. On the radio, they will say, "Jesus came to earth, so we wouldn't have to stay here." Um... I get what they mean, but it comes across as all wrong, and our pastor addressed this little blurb. He said it makes it sound like we are in this junky, horrible world and thank goodness we can get out of this hell-hole because of Jesus. But God created this earth. He created us FOR this earth. We have a purpose and there is MEANING to being on this earth, BECAUSE OF JESUS. We matter! He specifically addressed the kids at this point, emphasizing that because Jesus came to earth as a baby, he obviously went through a childhood, just like them, and for that reason, CHILDREN matter. Our whole lives matter. I don't want to live my life in such a way that I'm just aching to get out of this giant mud-pit. God means for my life to matter and have meaning. I felt glad that I wasn't the only Christian for whom that radio blurb didn't sit right.
This next thing that was addressed (only a small part of the sermon) is something that I may not be super popular for. I don't care. I don't need to be popular. Several weeks ago, Nelson Mandela died. I am not unaware of all the things he did, politically, and socially, for the people of South Africa, and I'm glad he did. There has been a steady stream of tributes and heart-felt grief all over my social media from all over the world. I wanted to read more, so I went to his autobiography. There, I read about his personal life, and his multiple infidelities, children he is estranged from, etc. We all have dark parts of ourselves. I am as much a sinner as Nelson Mandela was. But every time I read what a "great man" he was, I find it hard to buy into it fully. He did MANY great things in public and he fought for his people, but a truly great man is a great man in his personal life, too. I can respect his public life, but I cannot respect his private. And it colours my view of him.
In the sermon, our pastor mentioned Mandela, and how the world looks for men like him. We look for men/people to admire and look up to, to inspire us, and put on pedestals and the goal is that we should all be like these people. However, the world will never provide that person. We are all flawed and sinful and there will always be some part of our lives that is just ugly and yucky to look at. But all of our aspirations and hope for finding perfection is found in the person of Jesus Christ. Jesus is the only one who will never disappoint us. Jesus is the only one who lived a perfect life. He was a champion of social justice, he was perfect in his relationships with family and friends and followers. In Jesus, we find the embodiment of all our hopes, dreams, and aspirations. HE is who I want to aspire to and put on His rightful pedestal. Again, I felt like I was the only person who was willing to look at the other side of Nelson Mandela, and was relieved to know I wasn't, and that my uneasiness about all the accolades was not just me. My trust and hope is in Christ, not what any man or woman on this earth can do.
Closer to home, life has been a bit exhausting, but very, very good. My boys are thriving and succeeding in school, and I could not be happier with the security they feel there. All 4 of us are healthy and well, and I do not take that for granted. I have been a student since September and I felt like this semester was a bit of a "test" as to how I would manage my time as a student and a full-time solo mum. My housekeeping has taken the brunt of it, but I have kept up with all that I've needed to do as Mum, and I have final grades of 91% and 92% in my two classes. I am feeling quite proud of myself.
My final word is a plea for prayers of protection for my sweet babies. Their father is coming on Dec. 26, to take them for 5 days. For many reasons, this is never a completely safe time for them, mostly because of a complete lack of morals and disregard for any of my values, but for some potentially physical reasons as well. Please surround my 3 kidlets with a wall of prayers from Dec. 26-30. I will write again when they are back safely home.
Merry Christmas and God's richest blessings on all of you this year and beyond. May Christ reveal himself to you in a new way, or maybe for the first time. That is my hope and prayer for you.
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