Do You Know What I Know?

One of my favorite Christmas carols is "Do you Hear what I Hear", and I prefer the versions by Whitney Houston and Third Day. There is something about the passing of information from the lowliest of shepherd boys to the mighty king that I think shows the correct order of how God works. I also love the image that the good news is immediately loved and passed. If only it happened this way. As Lyndsey and I were putting up the Christmas tree and letting our baby ogle at the lights this song came on the ipod speakers and a specific phrase shouted out to me.

"A child, a child, sleeping in the night. He will bring us goodness and light."

During the season of Advent thousands of churches across the world will help to shift the focus off of "the perfect gift", "the perfect meal", "the perfect family", and all of the other misconstruals of perfection that we try and make happen around Christmas time. Seriously, at no other time in life do we try and make everything Norman Rockwellish.

I love Christmas time. I love the Advent season leading up to it. I even love the decorations, jingle bells and Santa Claus. But when family dynamics change for one day and then go back to normal the next, or when people put on their perfect face for just one day...it just seems to drive me crazy.

I think it is because I'm Methodist to the core. I believe in perfection. But for a long time I believed that I could work towards perfection and achieve it myself. This standard still haunts my ego as I continue to fail or upset others. It has only been recently that the phrase, "We don't have to be perfect, because God is." has helped to form my life. God is the one that perfects us...we simply have to learn to trust, learn to follow, learn to believe.

"A child, a child, sleeping in the night. He will bring us goodness and light."

Amazing that we're leading up to a night in which our Savior, our Messiah was born as a little baby in adverse conditions. Amazing that this little child is the one that allows God to see us as perfect and clean. Amazing that the Christ-child is the only one who brings us goodness and light.

This Advent season, enjoy putting up the lights and the tree. Go caroling sometime. Go look at other lights. Give presents that are meaningful and not just junk. And most importantly...go to church on other days besides Christmas Eve. This time of preparation is meant to set our hearts in a right place to follow the Christ-child, not to simply worship him and leave. Prepare your heart to accept goodness and light from the only true source of goodness and light.