Story
At Christmastime we cherish stories...many of us love to watch movies during the holidays, others of us love to read books, and still others love pageants and plays. We all like to catch up at Christmas parties with friends and hear how their lives are going- we enjoy hearing their stories. We send cards that tell what the past year has held for us, and we send photographs to capture a snapshot of our family's story. Some of the most famous Christmas stories include A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens, The Gift of the Magi by O. Henry, The Little Match Girl by Hans Christian Anderson, The Elves and the Shoemaker, The Nutcracker, It's A Wonderful Life, A Charlie Brown Christmas, Miracle on 34th Street, White Christmas, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, The Bishop's Wife, and Frosty the Snowman. It's difficult to find someone who doesn't love a good Christmas story.
Just as I wrote about tradition the other day, I hope that stories can be a part of my family's traditions each Christmas- I want to read books and watch films and go to pageants. I want to listen to stories and become a good story teller. I've made it my mission this year to begin collecting books for my son- Christmas books that we can read together every year as a family. I love used books, because I feel like they have an even greater story to tell since they have passed through the hands and home of others, and I found some wonderful ones at the thrift store down the street, as well as online.
Good stories captivate us. They draw us deeper into the beauty and uniqueness of our own story.
The greatest story ever told is The Christmas Story. Yes- the one that sometimes gets set aside because it is so familiar that we pass it by like furniture in our home- worn, well-loved, steady, tried and true... But this story truly has the power to allure our hearts over and over again with it's raw and rugged setting, all-too ordinary characters, surprising angelic messengers, animals on a hillside and in a barn, and a little baby boy. It is the story of the most unlikely, yet most magnificent King. It is the story of a shining star, guiding us toward our true north back home. It is the story of humanity's mess abruptly crashing into Divinity's redemption. It is the story of hope when all seems lost. It is the story of you and I finding Life, finding Truth, and finding the One and only Way.
So, take a moment...set aside the worries of today, and pick up your Bible. Turn to Luke 2. Read The Christmas Story. Let it pierce your heart with all it's fullness and wonder as if it was the very first time you heard the good news of great joy. Fall on your knees, oh hear the angel's voices...Oh Night Divine, Oh night when Christ was born.
