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This evening I have taken down my Christmas tree and all of the beautiful decorations.  They have been packed away into boxes and stored away until next year.

 

I always feel sad taking down Christmas decorations.  I love putting them up every year and then I get used to them: they brighten up the room and they brighten up dull, December days.  They become a part of the decor.  They become familiar.

 

I don't like the gaps and spaces and expanses that are left when the tree has been taken down and all of the shiny, shimmering decorations have disappeared.  But even more, I dislike the fact that I soon become used to my flat sans decorations again.  Everything seems 'back to normal' and it's almost as if Christmas never happened. 

 

Whilst I've packed away my decorations, I don't want to pack away the meaning of Christmas and the message of God coming to earth to dwell with mankind.

 

Whilst he's not writing about Christmas decorations, I think James' advice to his readers about remembering what we learn about God is relevant.  James encourages his readers to make an effort to remember what they have learnt, rather than learning something and instantly forgetting it, in the same way that we can look at our reflections in a mirror for a moment and then forget what we look like.  Or, in this instance, in the same way that we can pack away our Christmas decorations and forget that it was ever Christmas at all.

 

"But don’t just listen to God’s word. You must do what it says. Otherwise, you are only fooling yourselves.  For if you listen to the word and don’t obey, it is like glancing at your face in a mirror.  You see yourself, walk away, and forget what you look like.  But if you look carefully into the perfect law that sets you free, and if you do what it says and don’t forget what you heard, then God will bless you for doing it."
 

[James 1:22-24 NLT]

 

 

Whilst the decorations are tidied away until next year, I want to keep the real message of Christmas - the truth of Immanuel: God with us - unwrapped and unpacked and open in my heart and my life.  Until next year.