Each year at Christmas time I enjoy pulling out the little box that holds all my Christmas jewelry. It holds a potpourri of items but two, are my favorite. One I choose to wear, always, first. It is a pin given to me by a friend (Kami Wallace) years ago when we lived in Arlington, Texas. The pin itself is a Nativity. For a few years Marsha Jacobson (another wonderful friend) and myself were assigned the opportunity to decorate a room for our annual stake Nativity Display. I think I can speak for Marsha in that, we found much joy as we would contemplate, plan and carry out that assignment.
One year I learned a particularly important lesson. Marsha and I had decided that 'this year' we would decorate the room to represent downtown Bethlehem. Marsha, the guru of anything, had saved some old packing foam pieces and figured out if we sliced them like bread, painted them and glued them to a fake wall, they would resemble stone. Indeed they did, it was amazing. Then Marsha (guru, remember?) had come across and old wooden cart. Somehow she managed to get it home to be utilized in the room. We made loaves of bread and hung herbs. We even went down to a local creek and fished out rocks AND mud to create a well. The final touch; live doves in a cage, symbolic, right? The room was amazing! Then we carefully placed the assigned Nativities given to us throughout the room. Upon completion, as we stood back and marveled at our hours of work...we were, well... disapointed. It was not as we had imagined it. Don't get me wrong, the decorating was in and of itself fantastic, but we had found a flaw, a HUGE flaw! In an effort to create the "perfect room" to display the Nativities, the decorations had usurped the attention of the room; The Nativities were hardly noticed. We had overshadowed the very thing the room had been created for.
I was taught much at that moment. One lesson is very obvious, sometimes we can spend so much time in the fancy displays of Christmas that we lose sight of the most important thing about it; Christ. Sometimes you may, I know I have, think Christ needs something fantastic to display His love, not only in our homes but in our personal lives. Certainly the decorations are a wonderful part of the season but my pin reminds me He was born, not in a fancy palace, but in an unassuming, humble stable. May I never allow the world and all it's elaborate displays to distract, to overshadow my very purpose here on earth; to remember him, to follow Him, to be like Him, to return home to Him.
And so each Christmas time I reverently place my Nativity pin first, and foremost over and upon my heart. That I might remember Him, that in all the fun and wonderful moments of Christmas time, I don't allow Christ to get lost in Christmas.
See next post for second favorite Christmas jewelry.
I always loved going to see the Nativity display. You both always did such a beautiful job and the spirit was so warm. My friend invited us to one that her Mother-in-law (who is from Mexico) does. It was BEAUTIFUL! I felt like I had stepped into Jerusalem & Bethlehen. She had figurines representing Christ from a baby to a child to a boy with Mary & Joseph. She told me, you can work on this side (where she had vineyards) or you can go and shop (where she had little Jewish shops set up) She then told me, the most important place is to go up to the mountains to be with Christ (where she had the nativity set)- the temple is where we can be with Christ- we just have to put aside the cares of the world.
ReplyDeleteSorry this is a long comment. I hope you are having a wonderful holiday season! love you
What a great story! You have such a wonderful way of putting things, and what a great lesson to be reminded of. I miss you Sherrie!
ReplyDeleteMerry Christmas to you and your family! Love you!
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