Missing Christmas

Have you ever heard the term, "hiding in plain sight?" That means that something is right before us or at least in our line of vision, but due to whatever blockages or distractions may exist, we don't see it. We miss it. I don't think that there is anyone or any place that this pertains to more than it does in the spiritual realm. Particularly as it relates to Christ and Christmas.

I don't think anybody expects to "miss" Christmas. Retailers certainly don't. They plan their year around it. Families, especially families with children don't. For them, as Andy Williams sang, "It's the most wonderful time of the year." Churches don't. Most every professing Christian church will be well decorated and even have a "hanging of the greens." Nobody thinks or expects that they will "miss Christmas." Yet I think most of us do, at least to some degree. All of our distractions and blockages pretty much guarantee it. Is it so with you and me?

Nothing new here, it's been so from the beginning. When the heavenly host proclaimed the birth of Christ, only a handful of shepherds were on hand to hear it. Christ the Messiah had come, in plain sight, but He was hidden from almost all even if He was in right there...in a manger....in Bethlehem. The huge difference factor here though is that millions upon millions have now heard that Christ the Savior has come and that Christmas is meant to be about Him. But somehow, they, we, continue to miss this. We continue to miss Christ and the meaning and depth of wonder that is Christmas. Again, our distractions and blockages make it so. We may have all our decorations up, the tree, the presents, the gatherings. We're not missing the surface things. We're just missing Him and the beauty that Christmas is and is to be for us. We celebrate a holiday about a Person we don't really know or know at all. 

Perhaps the greatest illustration I've ever seen of this was a Christmas day more than 30 years ago. I was out for a walk when a car containing a family of three parked in front of the house they were going to. As they got out of their car they were shouting at each other, cursing each other. They did this as they walked to the door, carrying gifts for whoever was inside. They were not missing the day....just the One that the day was all about. They were participating in what they knew as Christmas and completely missing it at the same time. Are we?

I've missed too many Christmases in my life because of those things that I've allowed in my life that keep Him hidden in plain sight. I seek to live so that I would not miss Him again. May that be our resolve and may that be, by His grace, our experience. May we, you and I, not miss Him, not miss Christmas this year....or any year, month, week, or day to come.

Blessings,

Pastor O