I love Christmas movies.
No matter what time of the year, if a good Christmas movie is on
television, I watch it. There are so many
for us to choose. There are the big
comedies that do well in theaters, or like Elf
that becomes a classic. There are dramas
like It’s a Wonderful Life that
remind us the little acts of kindness in life make a big difference. Family movies like Home Alone, A Christmas Story, and Miracle on 34th Street bring the wonders of childhood to
all of us. There are the sappy happy movies on Hallmark channel and now
Lifetime. There are many stories of
Santa. The Santa Clause Trilogy that explains all of the Santa secrets and
many others remind us that a saint is someone who puts the needs of others
before his or her own needs. The one main constant of all of these stories is
that Christmas is a story and is not perfect.
To the amusement and confusion of some people this Christmas
season all Christmas movies have conflict, protagonists, antagonists, joy, and
craziness. The reason these movies have
all of these is because it is life. I can’t help but laugh with a loud roar at
the confusion of the many families portrayed in the movies. You know why?
They remind me of my crazy family and the messes that we have
encountered around the holidays. Life is not perfect. Life contains activities and elements that
create our lives to be messy. We are all
people and people make a mess.
One night over 2,000 years ago, a baby was born that was
promised to clean up our messes and he did. Jesus is the only perfect human to live on
this earth. He surrounded himself with
imperfect people. His mother and father
were not perfect. Jesus being perfect is
able to clean up our messes, forgive us, and teach us to do the same. Jesus came to earth not to make our lives
easier or more pleasant, but to forgive us of our sins because our sins make us
a mess.
Before Jesus was born, his parents had to go to his father’s
hometown for a census. Mary had to
travel while pregnant and very close to her delivery date. When Jesus was born, his parents had to stay
in a barn. I know. It was in a cave…with animals. Shepherds came and visited them. When he was a bit older, the wise men came
with gifts that were not practical at all, but were symbolic of his
future. Jesus came as a baby. A baby cries, poops, cries, eats, cries,
sleeps, and then cries some more. That
great Christmas Carol, “Away in a Manger,” misses the point. Jesus was perfect and sinless, but he was
still a human with human needs and human emotions. He understands us and is there for us as we
need help to clean up our mess.
No one’s Christmas festivities are perfect. It’s the one thing the movies have
right. We keep comparing our lives with
what we think others are doing. In
reality, we need to compare ourselves and look up to the Savior who came one
night in the most messy of situations. He
came to sacrifice for us. We can
sacrifice our ideals and create memories with our families and enjoy the mess
that Christmas brings. It brings hope,
joy, and love because in a messy situation, Jesus, the Messiah, was born so
that we could live.
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