Season Elizabeth Marshall
I hated my name when I was little – especially on the first day of school and during the Christmas season. That’s why, right there. At Christmastime, my name is everywhere!
When you’re little and get made fun of for something, any extra opportunity for attention and possible ridicule isn’t welcome. At Christmas, my name appears all over the place! Flyers, billboards, commercials, greeting cards, and pretty much every Christmas song includes the word season. So when I already had a hard time with the comments, Christmas made it so much worse.
My mom played it up, big time! She would make me record our answering machine message with something like, “Season’s greetings! You’ve reached the Marshall residence…” She also loved to sign our family Christmas cards,
Love,Jerry, Debby, and Season’s greetings!
Okay, I give her credit, she was cleaver – cheesy, but cleaver. But my little self hated it! Okay, maybe hate is a strong word, but I definitely didn’t appreciate it.
The one that bugged me most was the saying,
Jesus is the reason for the season.
I don’t know why. Maybe because of the rhyme or the embarrassing way my mom would say it to me, but it made me cringe. Until now.
Something shifted in me. Call it maturity or spiritual development, but suddenly that phrase makes me sit up straight and beam with joy. IT’S TRUE! Jesus IS the reason for the season…for me! Yes, Jesus is the only reason I exist. God made me. I am His. He is mine. Nothing brings me more joy – nothing.
We are knee deep in the holidays, and with all the obligations and stresses we face, it’s easy to loose sight of the true reason for the season (Ha! It’s still hard to write that!). Jesus is the star of the season.
Duh, you say. But from my experience the spotlight so easily shifts to things like family drama, gift buying, lack of money, parties, decorations, and all the other traditions that aren’t centered around the birth of Jesus Christ.
So, please allow me to pass onto you my new found delight.
Whenever you see the phrase, Jesus is the reason for the season, I want you to supplant your name for mine. I want you to see it as,
Jesus is the reason for Elizabeth, or Matt, or Donna, or Michael, or Sarah, or Lauren, or whatever your name is. Jesus is the reason for your life, your hope, your future, and your joy.
Jesus is the reason for you!
Joyfully,
Season
If you missed yesterday’s post, you can check it out HERE!