blinded by Christmas

Yesterday I was writing some of my thoughts about the Christmas season…

As I found myself pondering the incredible humble birth of my Savior, I got caught up in the paradox of this King of kings…
my King…
your King…
coming to us in the quiet of the night, in a stinky stable…

And I remember that this Lord could come no other way…
simply because it is WHO HE IS.

Oh, He loves us so…

But, He came this way not just because He loves us… but, because He IS love.

As I let my mind wander a bit, I kept coming to the cross…

Well, that’s Easter – not Christmas.

Christmas is all about Jesus coming… not the cross…

I struggled with this all day yesterday – wanting to get my blog post published… but, this thought kept me from doing so.

Last night I was pouring over Isaiah… Matthew…
looking for the piece I felt like I was missing – when all along it was right there.

I was just too blind to see it because I was caught up in the ‘Christmas’.

Of course, this morning, it didn’t take me long to stumble onto Ann Voskamp’s blog post…
and of course, it is exactly what I needed to hear.

“What Your Christmas Can’t Afford To Be Without”

We can’t celebrate Christmas without Christ…
We can’t celebrate Christmas without the cross.

As I was looking for images to use in the post I was working on yesterday {funny thing}… images of crosses kept coming up on my Christmas searches.
One in particular caught my eye… I saved it on my computer to use for a later Easter post.

A crown of thorns.

My King.

My ugly on His beautiful…

Christmas is nothing without the cross. It is at the very core of why Jesus came in the first place…
to save us.
to save me.
to save you.

To turn our deep, dark ugly into incredibly thrilling beauty.

Oh how I need this Savior.

He could have left us on our own… but He is HERE. Emmanuel!

Read more in my book, Haywire Christmas: Inviting Jesus Into the Mess on Amazon Kindle Here.