My Christmas tree is sideways. Kind of. Well, not really…but it’s seriously slanted.
After my son and husband spent all that time hooking the thing up to the top of the car and carrying it in the house, paying special attention to my request that they bring it through the back door and not the front so that pine needles would not get everywhere…I did not have the heart to tell them to straighten it.
So now it is slanted.
It is slanted when I glance at it from the kitchen.
It is slanted when I walk past it in the living room.
It is slanted when people knock on my front door and they walk in my house.
It is slanted when I adjust the presents just-right under it.
Part of me wants to hate the slant. It’s not perfect. The other part of me sees the slant for what it is: a reminder that Christmas imperfections are to be expected.
There will likely be moments when: People get upset. I feel overwhelmed. I go to my closet for my own time-out. I get annoyed. Family does something I don’t like.
Slants in Christmas don’t mean the whole holiday is wrecked, they just remind me that I have and need a Savior. They remind me — I’m human. They invite me to pray and to breathe deep.
Isn’t that what it’s all about anyway? Imperfect people desperately in need of a perfect Savior. This is what Jesus came for.
With this sort of mentality, I can remember slants are only moments. They come and they go, but God’s love for me endures forever. I am not defined by a passing moment, I am defined wholly and completely by Jesus’ love. With this, imperfect happenings, traditions, and inflated expectations cannot take me down.
There is a Savior and He came for me — and changed everything.
I see slants, I pray, and then I carry on. I feel offense, I remember how much Jesus forgave me and I move on. I deal with hard people, I throw my hands up and say, “I surrender” to God and I entrust them in His hands.
How can you brush off slanted moments and carry on in His love and grace, both to others and yourself?
“Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.” (Heb. 4:16)
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Thank you Kelly for reminding us that Christmas is not a Rockwell painting nor a Hallmark movie, nor should it be.
“Imperfect people desperately in need of a perfect Savior.”
Thank you Heavenly Father for loving us so very much and giving us our Sweet Jesus ?
WHAT YOU HAVE BEEN TOLD: Everyone has been raised from childhood to believe that Christmas is the birth of
Jesus The Christ. Who told you that Christmas is the birthday of Jesus? Your family, church and society OR the Bible?
Of course it was man that told you this. You never read it in the Bible. Yes, you read that Jesus was born. That’s very
clear in the bible. But WHERE does it say that Jesus was born in December or in the winter? Where does it say
Christmas is His Birthday? It’s NOT in the Bible. Period.
FACT: The history of Christmas is very well documented. It existed for thousands of years BEFORE Jesus was born.
Family gatherings, eating a feast, exchanging gifts, decorating a tree, ALL of this on Dec. 25 every year was done for
THOUSANDS of years BEFORE Jesus birth! That is PROVEN FACT. It CANNOT be denied. So HOW Can we say that
Christmas is His Birthday. There is NOTHING in Scripture to say that or even to hint that. The Apostles and first
century church NEVER observed December 25 or any other day as His Birthday. In fact, all annual birthday
celebrations were considered as pagan by the Jews. EVERY TIME an annual birthday celebration is mentioned in the
Bible, It is that of a pagan. When the wise men gave gifts to Jesus, it was NOT Jesus’s birthday. According to the Bible,
by the time the wise men came to Jesus, He was NO LONGER in the manger and no longer an infant. But rather He
was a young child in a house! (Matthew 2:11) IN fact, Herod clearly believed that Jesus was not a newborn babe by
the time the wise men had arrived, He slaughtered all the young boys up to two years old. (Verse 16) The wise men
did NOT give Jesus birthday presents! They would not have risked offending the Jewish family by doing a pagan
custom. They were presenting gifts to THE KING! That was a custom that was NOT pagan and WAS embraced by the
Jews. Also, the Bible NEVER says it was 3 wise men. It NEVER says how many wise men there were. The
overwhelming evidence indicates Jesus was born in September. NOT December. So, Why have we all been raised to
believe He was born Dec. 25?
HISTORY: The pagan witches of druidism, the pagan Assyrians, Egyptians, Babylonians and Greeks observed Dec. 25
and the days surrounding that date as the birthday of the sun, the sun god, Zeus, Tammuz and other names of their
pagan gods. They did so with Christmas trees, exchanging gifts, feasting, parties, etc. It was the birthday of their false
god. What does the Bible say about worshipping HIM in the same way as the heathens worship their false gods?
Deut. 12:30-32. What does the Bible say about Christmas trees? Jer. 10:1-4. The Roman Catholic Church adopted
the ancient pagan holiday of Christmas in order to increase their membership of pagans into the church to try to
convert them. But the pagans never changed their customs and the church adopted the same pagan customs of the
people that they were trying to convert. The Pope gave the pagan holiday the christian name of “Christ Mass”. Then
later renamed it Christmas. But it was still the same pagan date and pagan customs. Still is today. So, here we are in
the end times and everyone has been led to believe a lie. Most people who read this flier will still choose to believe
the lie that Christmas is Jesus Birthday. What does the Bible say about those who loveth and maketh a lie?
2 Thes. 2:11-12 Rev. 22:15