"Long lay the world in sin and error pining,
Till He appeared and the soul felt its worth.
A thrill of hope the weary world rejoices,
For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn!"1
Being a Baptist, the start of Advent nearly blew by me. I'm glad I did not entirely miss it. A few years ago I participated in a wonderful event organized by my friend, Julie, where we made a "Jesse tree". It is an Advent tree, so-named by Ann Voskamp, who wrote a fabulous series of Advent meditations back then to accompany each of the tree ornaments. Anyway, I ended up giving the book of meditations, the tree, along with its ornaments to my niece, who has two small children. At the time I made it, my two sons were practically grown. In a panic, around 8:00 last night, I messaged her..."Don't forget to get out your Jesse tree tonight and start your Advent devos with the boys!" She is a Baptist too....
Well, in conjunction with all that I realized that my current state of "undecoration" could not be allowed to stand. It was "now or never". I began to reflect that it is important to prepare for special guests. What do we do? We fluff up our homes so as to make things their most presentable and pleasant, yes? In about 21 days, we will celebrate the most special guest of all, arriving in the manger. "The Word became human and made His home among us..." John 1:14 NLT.
Was my house ready for His arrival? No. Unacceptable.
So, from around 8:00 last night until 1:00 this morning I "got to it", as we say in the South. The Sirius XM Christmas music went on, and up from the basement came the boxes of decor. My younger son had brought the main tree up a couple of days before, where it had been standing in the living room corner - - a bedraggled, silent condemnation of my neglect.
We have 6 trees in our house. One is a white, ceramic tree with blue lights, made for me decades ago by my maternal grandmother, who "did ceramics" in her basement for years. Two are easy-peasy table-top trees, because I simply throw a plastic bag over them and stash them in a closet after the season. Those are the ones in our boys' bedroom (and former bedroom). In our bedroom we have a UGA-themed tree. Hubster has collected UGA Christmas ornaments for years. The little, white pre-lit tree provides a perfect showcase for all that red and black. And, Hubster can enjoy it all day from his recliner. Then, there is the main tree, in the living room. It is a formal tree, done up in the living room colors. Finally, there is my favorite tree of all - - the tabletop tree in the basement. It contains the homemade ornaments, the "year" ornaments (one for most of the past 24 years), the ornaments from the schools where I was principal, the picture-ornaments of the boys, etc. It has colored lights and just radiates joy. Of all our trees, it is the most real.
On Facebook this morning, a mother of 6 posted a picture of her tree and recalled the carol, "O Holy Night.", whose lyrics are at the top of this post. I sang that out loud as I put up Ma's colorful nativity set last night. How precious the memories of making that set under her supervision in her basement! She was such a patient teacher! One of the phrases from the carol is "A thrill of hope, the weary world rejoices". By the time my mama-friend got her tree up and her six children in bed, she was weary, but rejoicing. By 1:00 this morning, so was I. I was not "done" with the decorating, but I was "done" for the evening, you know what I mean?
There's lots to make us weary during the Advent season, most of it not at all central to the coming of the Savior. But, there's one thing no human being needs to be weary about and that is the sin that separates him or her from a holy God. Suffering under the load of your own sin not only makes a person weary, it makes for a dreary exhausted life. And, because He HAS come, toting that heavy load is completely unnecessary! He HAS come, the fact of which we celebrate every December. He shouldered the load of your sin, bearing His Father's utter condemnation while hanging in agony on a cross, so that you can (by accepting Him as your Lord and Savior) lay your weary burden of sin down, so that you can walk away from it with the very essence of Jesus Christ living inside you (His Holy Spirit). He did this because in His eyes, humankind was worth such suffering and sacrifice. Your soul was and is worth it. "The soul felt its worth." If you've never taken Him up on that life-changing offer, I beg you to do so today.2
Do you see it? "Yonder breaks a new and glorious morn!" The dark night of sin has forever been banished. As we wait in our celebration of His coming, let's rejoice in the beauty of this truth . . . as we enjoy the visual feast of Christmas lights and decor!
Sources:
1 https://www.hymnsandcarolsofchristmas.com/Hymns_and_Carols/o_holy_night.htm
2 http://resplendentdaughter.blogspot.com/2014/07/the-main-thing.html
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