I have a confession to make. I have felt really bad about it for years, but if I’m honest with myself, I just can’t help it and I’m OK with that now. I just can’t keep pretending. Here it goes. I’m so NOT excited about decorating for Christmas. There. I said it. There are people I know who already have their Christmas tree up. I mean, seriously? How does that even make sense? But to some, it actually does. Boggles my mind.
So my aversion to holiday decorating stems from my incredibly practical hard-wiring. Or maybe it stems from my training in engineering from my former life, BK (i.e. Before Kids). I have no idea. But there’s something in me that screams this is just too much silliness to go through the effort of moving perfectly well-placed furniture to put an overpriced tree in a corner of the room that needs to be watered and maintained. I mean, I have 9 children to keep alive! Do I really need to care for a tree that we’re going to throw away in a few weeks anyway? Pure insanity. But alas, I must suck it up, buttercup.
And the decorating!! Why, pray tell? Pulling out all of these cute little ornaments for just about a month to put it all away again. I ask you, why??? I know, I know. It IS pretty. It’s nostalgic. And after it’s all in place and we can look at our decorations all over the place, I can appreciate being in the “Christmas spirit.” I’d say, I even enjoy that part. And of course, I love celebrating the birth of Christ. I’d have voted for a nice cake and a worship service, then have it be done, but that’s not nearly as memorable, I know. But the actual work that goes into pulling all the things out and then putting all the things back, just screams, “Why am I introducing more work into my life?”
As I was coming to accept my aversion to decorating, I started to think about how I love that the body of Christ is so similar to people at Christmas who consists of, for example, crazies who love decorating and singing Christmas carols for 3 months, and Bah Hum Bugs like me, who are so practical that it’s hard to break from the everyday routines. That’s what gives the church the beauty that it has. The diversity of the church goes far beyond race and gender. And we need every single person that’s in it, to serve in their very own unique way.
I remember hearing about how Lon Solomon, a retired pastor from McLean, VA, was saved. It was one of those loud, obnoxious street evangelists. You know, the slightly bizarre ones that are reminiscent of John the Baptist minus the eating of bugs? Kind of like that. And then there are the soft-spoken Christians who reach people like Rosaria Butterfield, who invited her over for dinner despite her lifestyle choices at the time. We’re all a part of the body of Christ, and can be beautifully and eternally used by God. Not that we’re necessarily needed by God. God doesn’t need anything from anyone. But what’s amazing is that we are invited to participate in His story. What grace. What an honor. What a privilege.
So as I suck it up and decorate this Christmas season, learning from others who love doing the decorating thing, I hope we can all find encouragement knowing that God knows what He’s doing, putting all these incredibly different people in the same church. He loves us where we’re at. He calls us to grow fully in Him. Let’s walk boldly, together, in submission to His call, obedience to His Word, and faith in His Son, as we celebrate this delightfully mad holiday season.
