Christmas

DIAMONDS…OR SOMETHING ELSE

I was watching a jewelry commercial today.  Of course, during various woman-friendly holidays, jewelry commercials are all the rage.  You see a man dazzling a woman with a sparkling necklace or a nifty tennis bracelet.  
That is all fine and good.  What else does a woman want for Christmas?  It even seems like a win-win for both parties in the deal:  the woman has a new bauble to prove her man’s love and he gets the adoration that accompanies said bauble.
What really made me stop and consider the commercials was the fact that I was not getting any jewelry for Christmas.  With the advent of children, anything shiny under our tree is fallen tinsel.  Just kidding honey.  
What truly struck me about the ads was what the announcer was saying.  He said two things that I could not stop thinking about.  Those two things were:  ‘What would you do for love?’ and ‘Celebrating 100 years of love.’
I started thinking; what would I do for love?  I do not believe for a moment that the cost of the present or the size of the diamond indicates the amount of love, that is not the issue at hand.  And since when are gold and silver sales indicative of a hundred year celebration?   With just a cursory glance at my heart, it would seem that the issue bothering me is the mass commercialization of Christmas.  Of course, that is a big part of it, but I think there is more.  I wish that for my children and for my family that Christmas was not about presents at all.  I do not know about you, but my distraction level is so high around the holiday season that I have to consciously focus on Christ in order to remember the truth.  I have to second guess what the other person will buy, what they will think of my gift, etc etc.  None of this is love in my book.  No, in fact my book describes love very differently.  Here is just a fraction of how important love is supposed to be:

“Love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back.” Jesus (Luke 6.35)

“The reason my Father loves me is that I lay down my life-only to take it up again.  No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord.” Jesus (John 10. 17-18)

“My command is this:  love each other as I have loved you.  Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.” Jesus (John 15.12-13)

“Righteous Father, though the world does not know you, I know you, and they know that you have sent me.  I have made you known to them, and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them.” Jesus’ prayer to His Father (John 17.25-26)

“In the beginning was the Word, and the word was with God and the Word was God.  He was with God in the beginning.” And “The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us.” (John 1.1-2, 14)
And then,
“Jesus said, ‘I am thirsty.’ …When He had received His drink, Jesus said ‘It is finished.’ and gave up His spirit.” (John 19.29, 30)

That love turns diamonds into nothing more than rocks.  I do not find mention of monetary gifts as evidence of love.  This Christmas, we should be celebrating over 2000 years of love.  The Son of God came down here to show us the true, pure, simple yet complex love.  He showed us a love that was many-faceted and a love that sparkles like no other.  
We know the Christmas story, right?  The baby born in the manger.  The man who died on the Cross for us.  But do we think about the Jesus who is alive and active right now, still loving us so completely?  
Where has our love gone I wonder.  Have we been so removed from our simple Jesus birth that we forgot what it means to just love one another?  Will you love me despite the flaws I try to keep hidden?  Will you love me despite my sin and my shame?  
Will I love you the way He commands me to?  
Oh Father, I am on my knees asking for a heart full of wonder this Christmas season.  May every person I see remind me of your love for us.  May I see a reflection of the Word in each man and woman.  Father, pour out love on this world that seems to have lost touch with what love really feels like. Renew in us the love that you intended us to have.  Help me show the love you have for me regardless of my imperfections.  
What will you do for love this year?

Merry Christmas