It’s Christmas Day. I overslept again, and woke up coughing because of this cold that’s been hanging on for nearly a week now. It rained here in Wisconsin last night and the current temperature is 50 degrees F. No picturesque snow-covered roof tops, no smoke from blazing fireplaces, just bleak, damp blah.

We didn’t put up a tree this year. None of our adult children or grandchildren will visit this year. All of them are going through life-changes, moves to distant cities, new jobs, new priorities.  All good mind you; but our house is empty nonetheless. 

Yesterday my wife and I went to Sunday morning Christmas Eve service (????). I was supposed to sing in the choir, but…the cold kept me from final practice and I could hardly croak out a note anyway. So I listened, singing inside my heart where all the notes were perfect. 

Afterward, we ate bean dip and chips while watching the Packers barely squeak out a victory. For supper, I had a warmed-up leftover fajita and a glass of wine.

At breakfast today, my wife and I wordlessly exchanged greeting cards, mumbling mutual; thanks to each other in a decidedly less-than-merry tone. She just now put in the first load of laundry; it is Monday after all.

I read my morning devotional which included of course the account of Jesus’ birth. Then I prayed to worship, confess, give thanks, and plead with my Father who is always and only good. And I thought of that first Christmas. There was no glittering snow, much less brightly lit decorations. Instead, it was cold, bleak, and foreboding. Joseph and Mary made an arduous journey to a strange place where they were not welcomed. Their accommodations were shabby; they were alone, and Mary’s pregnancy concluded with all the usual pains, fears, and smells of that most human of all events. Until the shepherds arrived, there was nothing to indicate that this was anything more than the birth of another Jew for the census to count.

How does an infinite, all powerful God communicate with stubborn people who are as stupid and helpless as sheep? He comes to them where they are, down in the dirt and the darkness, surrounded by enemies, without hope. And He says that this child is the answer. This child is and will be perfect. This child will do for you what you cannot do for yourselves: He will save you from your sins. Don’t keep looking around you in despair; look down into this Child’s eyes and believe.

A little over three decades later, this Child, now a Man in all the true sense of the word, would suffer and die on a cross, bearing all the filth and nastiness of our sins to make us right with the Holy God who is always and only good.

That’s why today is the Best Christmas Ever. It is not about cozy snow-covered cottages, or bright lights, or presents, or family gathered around a groaning table. It’s about God providing a way out of our sin and misery and bleakness into a holy light and life that will last forever. All this because He loves us; LOVES US!. I hope that this will be for you the Best Christmas Ever. SDG