I don’t know if I can sit here today and identify with the “most wonderful time of year” like every Hallmark store and Macy’s commercial would like to convince me to do during this Christmas season. (Not that there are Hallmark stores or Macy’s commercials here in Malawi, but I know there are where most of you are, and that they would be telling me that if they were here…)

To be honest, the last few weeks have been a bit challenging. The power and water have been out for a few days in a row, and Matt had his knee injured. We had been treating it using something like a kinesiology tape knee. It’s ten thousand degrees outside and I’m listening to “Let it Snow” on my phone. Matt had a stomach bug immediately following the healing of his knee. I don’t know that it’s felt all that “wonderful” this year!

But, then I had to take a minute and think about what I consider being “wonderful…” Is it the stores with all their halls decked for the season? Is it the cold weather and snow? The Christmas tree twinkling with its lights by the fireplace? Or the music filling the house with the sounds of the season? I have to say that even though all these things are nice, if they’re the reason you love Christmas, then they leave you a bit empty when you don’t have them. You may even feel like you need to get a fireplace and then have someone like this Chimney Building Milwaukee company come out and add a chimney in so that you are able to enjoy the glow and warmth of the fire during the colder months. Since we are on a bit of a budget this year, I couldn’t just go out and buy the $200 6-foot fake Christmas tree or a whole slew of little knick-knacks to deck the halls of our studio apartment. And, to be honest, with Matt being off his feet for two weeks and the power and water being out for part of that time, I didn’t feel much like decorating, or like it was even Christmastime at all. So here I sat, with a little bit of a damper on my Christmas spirit, and decided there was nothing much else to do but reread the real Christmas story from the source, my Bible.

I have to say that I love the Christmas story as the Bible tells it. It’s not long, barely three chapters, but it’s full of the personal touch of God. He sent an angel to Mary, who was a nobody in a no-name town, engaged to a simple carpenter, and He changed her life with one salutation about how she had found grace, “free, spontaneous, absolute favor and lovingkindness,” with God (Luke 1:30, Amplified). When her fiancé found out that she was pregnant before they were fully married, he was struggling over her fidelity, and God sent an angel to reassure him that she had not been unfaithful but was being obedient to His plan. When Jesus was actually born, He sent angels to a bunch of poor, stinky, dirty shepherds, who were minding their own business, watching their flocks on a routine, cold, winter night, to tell these low-class citizens that He had finally sent the Savior of the world for them. The accounts go on and on, and I encourage you to read it for yourself in Matthew 1:18-2:12 and Luke 1:26-38, 2:1-20, but one portion started to stick with me after reading these accounts over and over:

“Now all this took place that it might be fulfilled which the Lord had spoken through the prophet, ‘Behold, the virgin shall become pregnant and give birth to a Son, and they shall call His name Emmanuel – which, when translated, means God with us’” (Matt. 1:22-23).

God. with. us.

How about that for a reason to love Christmas? It celebrates God coming to be with little old us… With us when things don’t turn out so well. With us when we’re sick or lack resources. With us when the power and water aren’t working. With us when it’s ten thousand degrees outside and it doesn’t “feel” like Christmastime. With us when we’re weak and having a hard time finding something to be jolly about…

I think I can get a bit excited when I think about the reason for Christmas being that God decided to come be with little old me. When He sent that angel to Mary, then Joseph, when He was willing to be born in a dirty stable and laid in a filthy feeding trough, when He sent the angel to warn the wise men so they would avoid Herod and protect His newborn Son, He was thinking of how He could manage to be with us. He was willing to do whatever it took.

And in these days that have been admittedly a bit trying, I have seen that He is still willing to do whatever it takes to show me He is with me. On the third day of the water and power being out, I thought I was going to lose it because I was tired of sweating while washing dishes in dirty water on the floor or our upstairs apartment, tired of trying to figure out ways of keeping Matt’s knee from further infection without any medical supplies except for a cut up cotton towel, homemade saline, and bleach, tired of lugging 5 gallon buckets to the water reservoir on our property every day to make sure we had water, and overall just plain tired. But then, that night, mercifully, the power came back on and we heard a little bubble from the back of the toilet (lol)! I ran to the faucet and cool, refreshing, running water came sputtering out of the tap! Within minutes I was in the shower, and began to cry as I stood under the refreshing stream… He knew I couldn’t take another minute of the filth and heat. He knew I couldn’t manage to bear up under another day of no power or water, even though most of these amazing Malawians do it everyday. He was with me.

A day or two later, Matt’s knee finally took a turn for the better, and he was walking on it again. He still had some slight pain, but nothing some focused therapy can’t heal. After all, it is not hard to find physical therapists, you can do so by going online and doing searches similar to “Denver physical therapy” for your location, and weighing the best options.

I also managed to make an unconventional Christmas tree and a fireplace to hang our stockings on. One of my friends got a really good looking indoor fireplace in Denver and I cannot stop comparing it with mine. Sigh! As I hung our Christmas ornaments on our silly little tree that brought me so much joy, I remembered again, He is with me. When Matt was in bed only days after his knee recovering, shaking with chills and an upset stomach, fearful he had malaria, all I could do is pray. I knew He was with us. The next day when the chills subsided, and it appeared he only had a stomach bug, I bowed my head at Emmanuel. He was with us.

So this Christmas is unlike any I can remember, and hopefully unlike those to come, but I have to say I’ve learned a deeper appreciation for Christmas than I’ve had in a long time. So I’ll leave you with a quote from one of my Christmas favorites:

And the Grinch,

with his grinch-feet

ice-cold in the snow,

stood puzzling and puzzling:

“How could it be so?

“It came without ribbons!

“It came without tags!

“It came without packages,

boxes or bags!

And he puzzled three hours,

till his puzzler was sore.

Then the Grinch thought

of something he hadn’t before!

“Maybe Christmas, he thought,

“doesn’t come from a store.

“Maybe Christmas… perhaps

…means a little bit more!”

Merry Christmas!

Love,

Lisa