Yesterday’s events have definitely constantly been on my mind.  I have so much to say about it, yet I cannot seem to process much “out loud.”  And it seems as though everything that I’ve been thinking, others have been saying.

The first thought that came to mind is “why would someone kill babies??”  Then, I began to remember… we are in an ugly, fallen world.  Sin is ugly.  It is dark.  It is what it is… sin.  No matter how much we want to, we cannot change it.  Look at all of the ugly, dark things that happened in the Bible.  Murder of children happened so many times.  Robert Moore, I believe, wrote about this spiritual warfare better than I’ll ever be able to articulate, in his post: School Shootings and Spiritual Warfare.

We cannot change what already happened, but we can change our attitudes and how we live this life.  Instead of getting mad, we can pray.  We can love our families a little better.  We can give with more of a joyful heart.  We can help those in need.  We can love others more than we love ourselves.  We can put people and relationships above temporal things.  We can make the things that truly matter a priority.

On another note…

All of this is why I struggle with the way Christmas is lived out in the United States.  I have had a hard time as it is getting into the “Christmas spirit,” and it’s because I’m realizing more and more that our focus is totally and completely off.  The same old thing year after year…  Stuff.  That’s the focus.  And I’ll be honest, I fell into that trap as I always do.  It’s so easy, isn’t it??  I always feel as though I’m not getting the kids enough.  Making gifts is difficult because I worry about what people will think about those gifts… is it enough?

I can’t change the decisions I have already made (Christmas is right around the corner), but I have made up my mind that next year will be different… We have made the decision to be completely intentional about next year… making gifts, starting in February.  Making gifts that mean something, that have heart behind them, and help us to stop focusing on presents, but on the birth of our Lord.

This Christmas, take a moment to truly read the account of Christ’s birth.  Study it.  Find out what life was like back then.  Share the realities with your kids.  Think about about discuss how incredibly blessed we are.  Remember, Christ was born in a BARN.  He is God incarnate, and He was born where animals lived… poop, dirt, filth, and all.

He was born that we might have life.  Are you living this life for His glory?  Our love for Him can be lived out by living for Him.  We aren’t call to “be good” (because only He is good), but we are called to love like Him and live life for Him… to become like Him… to live loved.

It has always been and always will be about Him.

And I’ll be honest, for a long time I would think, “but Jesus wasn’t even born in the winter”… “Christmas was a ‘pagan’ holiday, how do we make it about Jesus?”

I came to the conclusion that all of that doesn’t matter… what matters is my own heart.  I am choosing to make this a joyous time of celebrating the birth of my King.