Giving Up Christmas Expectations

Scripture Reading: Luke 1:26-38, 2:1-20

Luke 1:38 NLT “Mary responded, ‘I am the Lord’s servant, and I am willing to accept whatever He wants. May everything you have said come true.’ And then the angel left.”

I have always had high (and unrealistic) expectations for the Christmas season. I want the house decorated and clutter free by the day after Thanksgiving. I want to be in the Christmas pageant, attend all the parties, find a ministry that I can do with each of my kids, bake everything known to mankind (without ever dirtying any dishes) so I have an excessive amount of treats for my family and to share, and being a homeschooler, I have to teach my children the real meaning of Christmas as well as all the traditions and their origin...and I want to do all of this while enjoying calm evenings at home from Thanksgiving until New Year's. Every year as the Christmas season approaches I think of what I can do differently to make sure things go the way I plan.Well, a few days ago I was sitting on my patio before sunrise. I saw a very bright star. It reminded me of Jesus' birth. Of course, Mary and Joseph didn't know they were celebrating the first Christmas, but even 2000 years ago Mary had to have had some of the same hopes that we would have concerning the birth of her child. She probably wanted to be married to his father and she certainly didn't want to take a road trip while she was in labor or to have him in a barn. When God was reminding me of this I told Him that she probably was aware of prophecy and knew just what to expect. But He reminded me that when the angel came to her she said, "How can this be?" Then she just said that she was God's servant and would do it His way. They didn't decide to go to Bethlehem because it was time for the Messiah to be born; circumstances forced them to travel there. And the fact that the Bible says that there was no room in the inn says that they must have tried that before the stable. So, the birth of Mary's baby, the first Christmas, didn't go as she planned, but it went exactly as God planned. And it was good.