Did you engage in the real meaning of Christmas this year?  Did you find yourself at the manger marveling at this most amazing birth?  Did you take the time to linger there long enough to allow the birth of Jesus to begin a new birth in your own life? There is abundantly more to Christmas than the gifts, the gatherings, the food, the crowds, the time off work.  While all those may be good things, they will quickly fade and you will be left with no more than you had before this most wonderful time of the year began.   Before you know it, good Lord willing, we will find ourselves right back here next year.  What will that look like, next year that is?    

Honestly, for me, the joy and excitement can quickly fade into the blues.  Life has been exciting with lots of pretty lights and time with family and friends and then every thing goes back normal.  Normal with no tree with lights, friend and family get togethers, all  O V E R  as in G O N E.  Normal with to much ordinary, to many hours of darkness, to much rain, to much cold and to much being inside.  It isn’t that all of these things didn’t exist until after Christmas, it is just that now that I have checked all the boxes and completed all the to do’s, my mind shifts, so that I see what was previously hidden.  But what if my mind didn’t shift?

What if instead, I chose to stay focused on Jesus, the light He brings into the world, the Savior of all mankind?  What if I chose to focus on becoming more like Him?  What if I focused on what gifts I would bring to Him next year at the celebration His birth?  What would it be like if I chose to say No to normal?  Well then, I would have to say Yes to something different.  Are you ready to say yes to “different?” 

If we choose to say yes to different it will require different from us.  Different as in we will still live in the same world, but it won’t live in us.  For example, it may be raining, cold, dark and dreary outside, but it won’t be inside me.  Saying no to what is, will make room for new, better and different.  We will take on the saying personally “there is no room in the Inn” for ordinary and normal.  We won’t keep Jesus a baby in a manger all year.  Scripture tells us that Jesus grew, became strong, increased in wisdom, increased in favor with God and men, and that the grace of God was upon Him.  How does that sound to you?  Would you be willing to take a chance with me that life could be anything but ordinary, in fact quite extraordinary as we grow up like Jesus?