A perfect God--Not a Perfect Me

Read Matthew 1:18-25

I think I am ready for Christmas. The new house is decorated. The presents are purchased. What needs to be mailed has been. The rest have been wrapped and are under the tree. Christmas Eve worship is planned and a draft of my sermon is written. Now I can relax and begin to enjoy this wonderful time of the year!

If you haven't noticed this before, I am a perfectionist. I put a lot of pressure on myself for things to go well. I want Christmas to be very special. I want all who come to worship on Christmas Eve to feel the holiness and the joy of God's special gift to us. At home, I want my family, who is together so rarely anymore, to enjoy each other's company and reside in peace together for just these few days. I want us to appreciate the wonderful blessings we have and be thankful. But sometimes, it all falls a little short. I am pretty hard on myself when that happens.

But then I remember--the first Christmas was not exactly perfect either. Jesus was born in rather questionable circumstances. His mother was an unwed teen. Her fiance seriously considered setting her aside for her indiscrestion. The census taking of the day forced the couple to travel at the very time Mary was due to deliver. Because so many people were on the road, the only place they found to stay was a stable. Our Savior's first bed was a feeding trough for animals. It was far from perfect.

In spite of it all, born that night was God's gift of perfect love. Jesus was God's gift because God was well aware of this imperfect world and the imperfect people in it. The Bible is full of their stories. And that is probably the greatest gift of all. God does not love us because we are perfect. God loves us with perfect love. We do not deserve it and we certainly do not earn it. All we do is receive it.

This season I am going to try to not worry about being perfect because I am pretty sure that once again I won't quite make it. Instead, I am going to focus on God's gift of perfect love in Christ Jesus, the holy child. What a Christmas gift that will be.

Christmas blessings from the Montgomery household to yours!

Rev Linda