Written By Beth McGhee<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Ahhhhhh\u2026<\/p>\n
Christmas-time\u2026 Peace\u2026 Joy\u2026 Love\u2026 Family\u2026 NOT!<\/p>\n
If your Christmas time is anything like mine, it can be stressful, pressure-packed, emotional, and tiring! Then again, isn\u2019t it what we make it? As women, we want everything to be perfect \u2013 the house with its decorations, the meal with its Southern Living Magazine cover recipes, the gifts wrapped with Hallmark-worthy bows, the entire \u201cNorman Rockwell\u201d experience. Have we missed the point? Well, then it must all be about family traditions, right? What happens when that has been taken away too?<\/p>\n
In 2012, we spent our last Christmas in Greensboro (driving distance from our children) and made a move to Oklahoma City that changed our \u201ctraditional\u201d Christmas gatherings. We have traveled through both busy and deserted airports, stayed in different hotels without decorations, visited our son\u2019s home, and gone to different cities celebrating with children individually. A far cry from our Christmas-day meal planned and prepared by me! As I have faced each year with many tears and emotional stress because \u201cIt\u2019s not what I am accustomed to!,\u201d I have to acknowledge how shallow that really is. I have come to realize when you throw a pity party for yourself, you and Satan are the only ones to attend. And he wasn\u2019t even invited!<\/p>\n
I had always been in control of the \u201ccelebration,\u201d so to speak\u2013 my home, my preparations, and my time-table. We all know Christmas is not all about traditions and trappings, but we become entangled with what we feel it should look like. Christmas may not be like it has been in years past, and it may never be. We cannot go back to life as we knew it. What about the mother and father who have lost a child? A child who has lost a parent? The person who has lost a spouse by death or divorce? The wreck that changed everything forever? The diagnosis that makes every day a struggle? The financial struggle that creates daily stress? The single individual who feels so alone? The list is endless, but the message is everlasting. God sent His son to the earth, so we may have eternal life\u2013 The Christmas Story!<\/p>\n
I am so thankful God is long-suffering and touched with the feelings of our infirmities. He created our emotions and understands them better than we do ourselves. When we feel so overwhelmed and at a loss for words, we can still feel His comfort and love saturate our emotions as we sit in silence before Him. My adjustments to Christmas traditions from the past seem so small in comparison when I look at others who face so much more than me.<\/p>\n
I recall a song the children, at a private Christian school where I worked, would sing every Christmas, \u201cHappy Birthday Jesus, I\u2019m so glad it\u2019s Christmas, all the tinsel and lights and the presents are nice, but it\u2019s all about You, Happy Birthday Jesus, I\u2019m so glad it\u2019s Christmas, all the carols and bells make the holiday swell, but it\u2019s all about You.\u201d May we never forget it\u2019s all about Jesus and His coming to earth to be the supreme sacrifice for us. God gave the gift of His Son, so we may have eternal life in heaven with Him.<\/p>\n
Circumstances change, and life situations change, but the Love of our Heavenly Father is unchanging. As we go through situations in life, try to keep Him at the center of it all and know He is in control. Tears will come and go as our feelings and emotions do, but His faithfulness is everlasting and firm. Christmas is all about Him. It is His birthday!<\/p>\n
Google the song \u201cHappy Birthday Jesus\u201d and sit with Him in silence who the celebration is really all about! Merry Christmas.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
*Happy Birthday Jesus- Author Unknown<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"excerpt","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":4298,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","episode_type":"","audio_file":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","filesize_raw":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,37],"tags":[749,1003,193,16,924],"class_list":{"0":"post-4297","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-general","8":"category-womens-ministries","9":"tag-749","10":"tag-beth-mcghee","11":"tag-christmas","12":"tag-discipleship","13":"tag-holidays","14":"entry"},"title_es":"El caos de la navidad!","content_es":"Escrito por Beth McGhee Ahhhhhh ... Tiempo de Navidad ... Paz ... Alegr\u00eda ... Amor ... Familia ... \u00a1NO! Si su tiempo de Navidad es algo como el m\u00edo, puede ser estresante, lleno de presi\u00f3n, emocional y agotador. Entonces otra vez, \u00bfno es lo que lo hacemos? Como mujeres, queremos que todo sea perfecto: la casa con sus adornos, la comida con sus recetas de la revista Southern Living Magazine, los regalos envueltos con lazos dignos de Hallmark, toda la experiencia de \"Norman Rockwell\". \u00bfHemos perdido el punto? Bueno, entonces todo debe ser sobre tradiciones familiares, \u00bfverdad? \u00bfQu\u00e9 pasa cuando eso se ha quitado tambi\u00e9n? En 2012, pasamos nuestra \u00faltima Navidad en Greensboro (a una corta distancia de nuestros hijos) y nos mudamos a la ciudad de Oklahoma que cambi\u00f3 nuestras \"tradicionales\" reuniones de Navidad. Hemos viajado por aeropuertos concurridos y desiertos, nos hemos alojado en diferentes hoteles sin decoraciones, hemos visitado la casa de nuestro hijo y hemos ido a diferentes ciudades celebrando con ni\u00f1os individualmente. \u00a1Muy lejos de nuestra comida del d\u00eda de Navidad planeada y preparada por m\u00ed! Como me he enfrentado cada a\u00f1o con muchas l\u00e1grimas y estr\u00e9s emocional porque \"no es a lo que estoy acostumbrado\", debo reconocer lo superficial que realmente es. Me he dado cuenta de que cuando organizas una fiesta de compasi\u00f3n, t\u00fa y Satan\u00e1s son los \u00fanicos a los que asistir. \u00a1Y ni siquiera fue invitado! Siempre hab\u00eda tenido el control de la \"celebraci\u00f3n\", por as\u00ed decirlo: mi hogar, mis preparativos y mi horario. Todos sabemos que la Navidad no es todo acerca de las tradiciones y las trampas, pero nos enredamos con lo que creemos que deber\u00eda ser. La Navidad puede no ser como ha sido en a\u00f1os pasados, y puede que nunca lo sea. No podemos volver a la vida como la conoc\u00edamos. \u00bfQu\u00e9 pasa con la madre y el padre que han perdido un hijo? \u00bfUn ni\u00f1o que ha perdido un padre? \u00bfLa persona que ha perdido un c\u00f3nyuge por muerte o divorcio? \u00bfEl naufragio que cambi\u00f3 todo para siempre? \u00bfEl diagn\u00f3stico que hace que cada d\u00eda sea una lucha? \u00bfLa lucha financiera que crea estr\u00e9s diario? \u00bfEl \u00fanico individuo que se siente tan solo? La lista es interminable, pero el mensaje es eterno. Dios envi\u00f3 a su hijo a la tierra, para que podamos tener vida eterna - \u00a1La historia de Navidad! Estoy muy agradecido de que Dios es paciente y conmovido con los sentimientos de nuestras enfermedades. \u00c9l cre\u00f3 nuestras emociones y las entiende mejor que nosotros mismos. Cuando nos sentimos tan abrumados y sin palabras, a\u00fan podemos sentir que Su comodidad y su amor saturan nuestras emociones cuando nos sentamos en silencio ante \u00c9l. Mis ajustes a las tradiciones navide\u00f1as del pasado parecen tan peque\u00f1os en comparaci\u00f3n cuando miro a otros que enfrentan mucho m\u00e1s que yo. Recuerdo una canci\u00f3n que los ni\u00f1os, en una escuela cristiana privada donde trabajaba, cantaban todas las navidades: \"Feliz cumplea\u00f1os Jes\u00fas, me alegro mucho de que sea Navidad, todas las guirnaldas, las luces y los regalos son agradables, pero todo se trata de ti\". Feliz cumplea\u00f1os Jes\u00fas, estoy tan contento de que sea Navidad, todos los villancicos y las campanas hacen que las fiestas se llenen de alegr\u00eda, pero todo se trata de ti \". Que nunca olvidemos que se trata de que Jes\u00fas y su venida a la tierra sean el sacrificio supremo para nosotros. . Dios dio el regalo de su Hijo, para que podamos tener vida eterna en el cielo con \u00e9l. Las circunstancias cambian, y las situaciones de la vida cambian, pero el Amor de nuestro Padre Celestial no cambia. A medida que pasamos por situaciones en la vida, trate de mantenerlo en el centro de todo y sepa que \u00c9l tiene el control. Las l\u00e1grimas vendr\u00e1n y se ir\u00e1n como lo hacen nuestros sentimientos y emociones, pero su fidelidad es eterna y firme. La Navidad es todo acerca de \u00e9l. \u00a1Es su cumplea\u00f1os! \u00a1Busca en Google la canci\u00f3n \"Feliz cumplea\u00f1os Jes\u00fas\" y si\u00e9ntate con \u00c9l en silencio de quien se trata realmente la celebraci\u00f3n! Feliz Navidad. Beth McGhee es la esposa de Tommy McGhee. Ella tiene una hija, Jennifer, un hijo y una nuera, Jason y Mandy, y una nieta, Audrey. Actualmente es empleada por Chicos. * Feliz Cumplea\u00f1os Jesus- Autor Desconocido<\/em>","author_name":"","jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/discipleship\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2018\/12\/The-Chaos-of-Christmas.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4T9u2-17j","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/discipleship\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4297","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/discipleship\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/discipleship\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/discipleship\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/discipleship\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4297"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/discipleship\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4297\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/discipleship\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4298"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/discipleship\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4297"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/discipleship\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4297"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/discipleship\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4297"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}