Why Jesus Can’t be Left in a Box this Christmas

I know the “right” things to do at Christmas. We cut down our tree, post pictures on Facebook. The little village, set up. Stockings, hung perfectly…

But I forget about that little oblong box. The one I pull out and put back each season.

We get out our, “Happy Birthday, Jesus” sign, the one our kids colored when they were five and three. We display it across our fireplace for all to see…

But I forget about that little oblong box. The one I pull out and put back, each season.

We plan to go look at Christmas lights. Take our family pictures before night comes. Pick up our holiday cards from Costco…

But somehow we keep walking past that little, oblong box. We look at it, open it, but shut it again. We are too busy.

I rummage thru the stores, deal with grumpy people all scrambling for the same parking spot, on a day of pure downpour in Seattle…

Yet I fail to sit and look at, open up, touch, and rummage through that long, slender box, this Christmas.

The list of presents fill my head. I think of the kids needing homes, left in a house where they will likely experience violence this Christmas. I hold our two-year-old in our hands…

But amidst of good works and acts of benevolence, why have I forgotten the person in the oblong box?

The wreath is hung low, we attend parties, see foster children who have come and go. My heart is full. But something is missing, and I can’t put my finger on it….

Could it be in that little oblong box, the one I shift from room to room so others won’t see it sit idol when they come?

We stuff the empty boxes from Christmas decorations far from other people’s eyes. We want them to see grande things, not untidy keepings, empty containers, oblong boxes we have yet to display this Christmas.

But then it grips me, maybe I should open, look at, really consider displaying the contents from that box that waits silently for me this Christmas?

I pass it daily. But ponder, wait, somehow keep missing the meaning of it all.

I have my white, hand-painted, nativity, sitting flawless in our entry. But my religion isn’t white-washed, my belief system more than fragile representations sitting stagnant for others to see…

Isn’t it?

I seek that box. Look for it. Almost need it now.

Days later, I find my two-year-old rummaging through the pieces, the contents of that little box, unapologetically laying out each emblem on the living room floor.

She displaying them haphazardly, carelessly untidily for others to see.

Strewn out are Mary, Joseph, wise men, shepherds.

I grab them, as if previously valuing them intensely.

But the truth is…I hadn’t treasured this tiny nativity. It was a gift to begin with that I never considered the meaning of, like I should have.

Still, something told me as I reached for them….there is something more that I am missing.

I pick up the pieces one by one. My toddler looks at me as if she hadn’t done anything wrong.

In here eyes they were hers to handle, hold, caress, carry close to her chest. Something never to let go of.

Could it be I was the one who had it all wrong?

I place the pieces in that oblong box. Back where they had come from.

As if the first Christmas itself could be harnessed, controlled, placed quietly in a container and set a side for my own glory somewhere where others won’t see.

Then, something struck me. It hit me like a gust of wind rushing in from an opened window.

Where was Jesus? I rummaged through the box of nativity, laying helplessly disarranged in that ob-longed box, now sitting contently on my table.

Where was He?

I knew He was once here.

I remember maybe five years ago. I took all the pieces out, looked at them, then put them all back in a box and left it there.

How can we have a nativity, without the Deliverer who started Christmas?

I dig and I dig, until I realize the truth of it all….Jesus was missing.

Disillusioned, heart amiss, distraught at the thought that the very center piece of this nativity was absent, making the whole thing seemingly garbage, useless.

Yet, the reality was…I hadn’t cared before this. I left Jesus in a box somewhere…for years; forgotten, hidden, tucked away out of sight until I realized just how much I needed Him?

And maybe the reason we lose Jesus is because we don’t want to bow down like those at that very first Christmas? We don’t want to “go”, take our gold, frankincense, and myrrhe, and lay our treasures down at His feet?

His Spirit moves me to quietly set up the remaining manger pieces from the forgotten oblong box.

I mourn. Wait. Pray. Ask God to show me how to return the Christ-child that I let somehow slip away this holiday….

And he reminds me…Jesus hasn’t left us.

He isn’t hidden, lost, missing from the pieces of the nativity Christmas scene I should have set up long ago…

He is here, near, God with us. He is risen, alive, unconfined to a tiny plastic piece, hand-painted, made-in-China, lost from everyone’s sight.

He is the Christ-child, resurrected. Not missing from some plastic nativity set….but alive in the hearts of men and women who seek Him.

I sigh. Let my heart rest. Rejoicing that His Spirit gives us grace, mercy and forgiveness even when we forget, or leave Jesus in a box.

This Christmas…

• Will you go, and thank Him for the gift of a Savior who came as an infant and now lives to intercede for us and reigns supreme in Heaven?
• Will you worship Him for the gift of His Son who left the comforts of heaven and came as a perfect representation of God-incarnate, paying the sacrifice for you and me?
• Will you take a moment…put the presents and lights and the glimmer of the season on the back seat…Jesus in the center?
• Will you bow low, bring Him what you hoard. Follow the star, finding the light of the world…In a manger, risen inside us. Giving His children, the hope of all nations?

A baby. An infant. Our God. The Lord. The Crucified One. Alive. Resurrected inside us…

Uncontainable. Uncontrollable. Unharnessed. Immovable. In-penetrable. Unquestionably the very center of it all. Christmas.

He won’t be left in a box.

Let’s go out, display His splendor….and take Jesus from our box.

UNITE Link Party

Merry Christmas, everyone!  It is such a beautiful season…but my prayer for each of us is that none of us would miss the true meaning. As you UNITE below, would you bring encouragement, find the miracle in other people’s writings, stop and stay awhile, even if your busy.

Maybe the Jesus inside you is the only Jesus others will see this Christmas!

Here is how the linky works…

1. Add a post below
2. Link back and/or follow on Facebook and/or Twitter.
3. Check out other people’s posts, and won’t you please stop on comment on whoever has a post before yours?

Thanks for filling our hearts with your words, and joining here, each Tuesday at UNITE!