Dance to the Manger

"On the 9th day of Christmas, my true love gave to me 9 ladies dancing." Now that's what I'm talking about! I love to dance--even though my children all make fun of my less than stellar technique. But isn't that one of our jobs as moms--to embarrass our children?

With just a few days left before Christmas, I must confess that my dancing ways and attitude are suffering. I am more staggering, rather than dancing with joy, to the finish line of Christmas Day. Forgive me Lord! If ever there should be a time of unbridled joy for a believer, it is the days of Advent as we anticipate the celebration of our Savior's birth.

Help us, Lord, to rejoice with the shepherds as they heard the Angel's astounding announcement of the birth of Emmanuel. Help us to run with jubilation to the manger, rather than worry about our "sheep" and all we have to do in our fields. Help us to cast aside our to do list, our fear, our pride, our selfishness and kneel down and worship the Babe of Bethlehem. Help us to dance to the manger this Christmas.

Back to the 9 ladies dancing--they symbolized the fruit of the Holy Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. What a gift this fruit of the Spirit is for all who believe! Have we thanked Him? Are we walking (or, in this case, dancing) in the Spirit so that this fruit will be manifested in our lives? I'm so thankful I don't have to manufacture joy and peace and kindness and the like. I'd be a miserable failure if I did--the harder I try, the more I fail.

But praise God, He produces the fruit as we walk with Him. Galatians 5, which describes this fruit of the Spirit, repeatedly emphasizes walking by the Spirit. In 5:1, for instance, we're told "walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh." Or 5:25 "If we live by the Spirit, let us walk by the Spirit." We don't create the fruit any more than we create a sunrise or a blue heron or a majestic oak tree. Only God can create. But as we walk along, we can experience the beauty of His sky and His creatures and His creation. And as we walk, we discover in the wonder of His creation true joy and peace. He creates; we experience as we walk with Him.

At this glorious, but hectic, time of the year, might we walk--not run or rush--by the Spirit. Might we take the time today to go with the shepherds to worship at the manger of our newborn Savior. Might we take the time to meditate upon all that God has done for us in Christ and be like Mary who "treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart." (Lk.2:19) Might we, with the shepherds, be quick to glorify and praise God for all we have seen and heard this Christmas.

Who needs to hear it? Surely that exhausted store clerk or discouraged single parent or lonely senior or frantic friend... or maybe we just need to be reminded. At Christmas, He came. He is here now. He has given us His Holy Spirit. With His Spirit is fullness of joy and peace and patience and kindness... And He will never ever leave us or forsake us. So it's time to dance! Will you join the shepherds in dancing to the manger? To God be the glory.