I gave myself a gift last Christmas.
I used to listen to Pandora all year long. (I still would but I can’t figure out how to get it back how it used to be and am afraid I have to actually pay something now to go back to the good old days.) But anyway, I especially listened around Christmas time, partly because I didn’t own a lot of Christmas music, and also because it was an easy way to get a good range of Christmas music, traditional and otherwise.
Away in a Manger? Pandora’s got thirty different renditions. That Capital Lights song I’ve loved ever since I heard it on the radio when I was a teenager and can’t ever remember the name of? Just thumbs-up it and rest assured it’ll show up again without having to go searching for it. Casting Crowns’ Peace on Earth? Thumbs-up it on Pandora but also go listen to it on Spotify to your heart’s content because once through is never enough. Dolly Parton’s With Bells On? Well, that one I finally just bought because my boys loved it as much as I did.
Anyway, I was smart last year, and I took screenshots of songs I especially liked, especially if I started noticing an album trend. Then when Christmas was over and I had Amazon credits to spend, I bought one of the Christmas CDs that had several of the songs on it that I had thumbs-upped.
I didn’t listen to it though. I saved it, and today when I saw that I had bought a Phil Wickham CD I wasn’t too sure about Christmas 2022 me. I don’t think I could’ve told you a Phil Wickham song I liked if you’d paid me to.
But then I turned it on, the first Christmas music I’ve listened to this season, and what do you know, it was just the thing.
I haven’t been feeling very inclined toward Christmas. It kind of feels like too much to do in too little time. I haven’t decorated at all; we haven’t gotten our tree; I haven’t made a Christmas cookie list; I haven’t even written our Christmas letter, although I did finally get the pictures ordered. (Oh, and I did get most of my Christmas shopping done on Black Friday or before, so there’s that.)
But here today is, December 1st, and I remembered I had a new Christmas CD to listen to.
I’m a little more excited for Christmas now.
The first two songs were lovely to listen to (Hark the Herald Angels Sing and Joy to the World), but it was the third song that caught me off guard. Away in a Manger doesn’t usually bring me to tears, but this time it did.
A baby in a manger.
A helpless, tiny, brand-new baby.
The beginning of the end of the story of redemption.
And I was just so overwhelmingly grateful. It sounds silly, but I thanked God for letting me be alive.
He didn’t have to create us. He knew what it would cost Him. What it would cost that tiny baby-turned-man.
But He breathed Life anyway.
He gave us life anyway.
Don’t forget that in amongst all the lights and gifts and music.
He knew the cost, and He gave life anyway.
We were worth it.
Don’t forget that, no matter how this season finds you.
What an incredible Love.
