An upside Christmas

As Christmas is rapidly approaching, I can't help but let myself drift back in thought to what Christmas was like last year. Worlds different from what Christmas will be like this year. Last year, it was hot, I was surrounded by at least a hundred children, we had a tiny little fake Charlie Brown Christmas tree, we had two little boys staying with us for the holidays, Christmas dinner consisted of rice and sauce, and the only Christmas song that we heard was Christmas don come (a Sierra Leone rap Christmas song). This year will be cold, no children, lots of Christmas music (still playing Christmas don come though!), a huge feast of turkey, pie, and broccoli casserole, and a huge real Christmas tree with lots of presents underneath.
One thing that remains the same from both Christmas celebrations, is what we are celebrating. Last year, I feel like the Lord really started the work of transforming my view of what Christmas is truly about. Away from all the commercialized Christmas back home, I was able to step back and worship the only thing that was left: the fact that our Savior was born. That he came to earth to die for us. That truth hit my heart in a new way last year in Sierra Leone.
He has continued to develop and stretch my views of Christmas this year. I have been attending a Bible study in Denver and recently we have been talking about what an upside down event the Christmas story truly is. You can't really look at the Christmas story with a logical perspective because it doesn't make sense. That the King of Kings would humble himself to be born in a stable for animals. We have talked a lot about how we have tried to make it this beautiful, picturesque scene, but when you think about it, it was not the beautiful scene that we show on Christmas cards. Yes, it was a beautiful, holy night, but it was also a dirty, loud, and humbling night. A stable wasn't the cleanest place to give birth. And when you think about those that the Lord revealed his son's birth to, it wasn't the elite of society and the well known, it was the lowly shepards.
When I think about the Christmas story in those terms, I am encouraged. Encouraged because still today the Lord chooses to use the messy, humbling situations to accomplish his purpose. He works through the lowly people. And he does this so that his glory can be known.