Sometime in the fall of 2023, I was telling a good friend of mine that in 2025, I would have a Christmas Birthday, because February First 2025, written day-month-year was 1.2.25, which looks just like Christmas Day! She responded by saying something I was astonished I hadn't thought of, "Then your next birthday is your Christmas Eve Birthday!"
Lo and behold! Let earth receive her King! She was right! With her observation came the quick revelation that not only was I to have a Christmas Eve Birthday and Christmas Birthday, but in keeping with my celebration of the 12 Days of Christmas and Epiphany, I had at least 14 Christmas Birthdays on the horizon!
These Christmas Birthdays were coming sooner than I imagined, so my thoughts and prayers became an exciting swirl of wonder at the immediacy of this Amazing Gift! My Christmas Eve Birthday would be here so soon, and what would it bring? What would an entire year of Christmas Eve mean in my life? I began thinking about what Christmas Eve has meant to me over the years, and these thoughts led to so many good things!
A picture is worth a thousand words. No wonder God speaks to us so often in pictures. We can see things in pictures and parables that help us in our walk of faith. Christmas Eve is a picture that was giving me insight and direction for the year that was fast approaching.
One of the things I realized as I was praying about a whole year of Christmas Eve is that Christmas Eve brings clarity and focus, which brings productivity, a settled contentment and a calm. How so? Well, in my experience, Christmas Eve comes each year with the thought, "Where did all the time go? How is it already the Day before Christmas?" It's not just Christmas Eve that brings this thought, but it's really any deadline that arrives before I feel ready. Being a particularly creative person, a myriad of ideas fill the space in my mind, and there simply will never be the time to carry them all to fruition. And that's okay. I was listening last night to Joshua Sprague. He said something that resonated with me, "Restriction forces creativity." I never like to have my back up against a wall, but I also know that sometimes my best ideas come to life when I find myself pressed for time, when the window begins to close and it's do or die. The very best ideas are DO and the extra stuff that may have served in the creative process, but which in the end, would just get in the way, are DIE. And so it is with Christmas Eve.
Christmas Eve Morning brings clarity. What is the essence of Christmas? What must be done and what can be left out? With just one day left to prepare, my thinking becomes quite clear. I seem to get more done in the One Day of Christmas Eve than I do any other day in December. Clarity brings focus. I focus on the things I know I can do, and I find that suddenly, everything comes together, and quite grandly! Extra ideas and projects are packed away for another time, and I can see what Christmas is going to be for that year, and I am delighted.
Christmas Eve Evening brings contentment and calm. Christmas settles in with the flicker of candlelight against the coldness of night, reminding me that even little lights and little fires, lit by the great fire, have the power to drive away the darkness. Those little lights illumine the faces of the faithful, joyful and triumphant, as our voices ring and sing the news that Christ was born in Bethlehem of David, fulfilling long awaited prophecy at just the right time.
As I write and record this, I am 17 days into my whole year of Christmas Eve. Just like I shared, I have found clarity and focus, contentment and calm. I am already accomplishing more in the beginning days of this year than I have in the days and years before now. I absolutely believe that everything GOD promises has a set time to come to pass. And when that times comes, He does it! I find myself caught up in what He is doing in this Christmas Eve of my life! What a wonderful time this is!
As Henry Blackaby famously said, "God is always at work around us. He invites us to join Him in His work." One of the KEY verses he sites in his Experiencing GOD Bible study is Amos 3:7, "Surely the Sovereign Lord does nothing without revealing his plan to his servants the prophets." And so He does! How He brings things to pass is always a surprise, but what He will bring to pass, He does share with us, if we walk in step with Him! There is no greater joy that I have found than to know GOD's voice and to join Him in His work! And all the more when He brings a whole season of Christmas Eve!
Bonus: Amos 3:7 came back to my mind just yesterday, and I looked up the name Amos to find that it means "to carry" or "Carried By GOD" --isn't that another beautiful picture of our life with Him?
