Okay, by now you know me well enough to know that I would never send our holiday greetings via email and blog entries. I hope you are waiting for the rest of the story because I do need to share a little background information with you.
You see, months ago I started on Christmas card project 2008, purchasing cards during the summer, picking up postage in August when we were in the states for a visit, snapping a photo of the boys back in October, all so that I could complete this project by mid-November with cards in the post by December 1.
December 1. That was my mail out date. Was being the key word here.
I had the bright idea to save on international postage and ship the cards to my mom and dad with regular US postage already on them. Then, the plan was for my mom to receive the box, take the cards to the post office and mail, again on December 1.
Back in mid-November, all was going well with my Christmas card 2008 planning timeline. A good two weeks before Thanksgiving I was at the post office up our street sealing that box and getting it ready for its journey across the pond, all the while feeling a bit high and mighty that I was done with Christmas cards, and they were done early so that hopefully they would be some of the first in the post for our friends and family to receive.
This is the precise point in which my plan obviously started to fail. And I think it had to do with the fact that I was getting mighty puffed up and a little too proud for my britches. I'm beginning to understand that my Christmas card intentions may have been a little out of line with what they should have been. I was feeling high and mighty trying to create the illusion that I've really got it all together, you know, 3 little boys at home, an international move under my belt and my Christmas cards were going out on December 1. Yep, that really shows that you've got your act together. Right.
Now comes the rest of the story.
After almost daily check-ins with my mom and her postman, the cards are nowhere to be found. Gone. No way to track them gone. Gone also is the image that I was trying to create of someone with her act together!
During the first few weeks, I held onto much hope just knowing they would turn up and then be sent out, a little later than I was planning, but out all the same. As the weeks drew on and after much analyzing about where my plan had failed, I found the time to really examine my Christmas card objectives and I found them to be a little skewed to say the least. I wanted them in the post early so that it would be a reflection of how together I thought I was. I think that is why the good Lord is looking down on me right now having a good giggle at my expense. He's having the last laugh because it seems to take lessons like these for me to get things right.
This season is not about the perfect picture in the perfect setting of the perfect family for the perfect Christmas card that will go in the post on December 1.
It's about reaching out to those you love and sharing the miraculous and glorious birth of our Savior.
That's it.
That's what it's all about. All of the other is just "fluff". The decorations, the trees, the packages, the parties, even the Christmas cards, sure they are wonderful and certainly add to the merriment and anticipation, but may they never make us lose sight of what this season is truly all about. That very special night over 2000 years ago when a precious baby was sent by God for me and for you. The ultimate gift, wouldn't you say?
For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.
John 3:16-17
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