I almost forgot this year.\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n
I knew Christmas was coming, of course, but this year has just been so exhausting that all I could think about was, “I can’t wait for the time off.”\u00c2\u00a0 <\/em><\/p>\n And that was pretty much the extent of it.\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n Until yesterday as I was driving to pick up Paul from the office and this Christmas song came on with a refrain where the voice of a small child is reading this:<\/p>\n And the angels said fear not for behold It was almost shocking, the realization that I have not thought about this at all this year.\u00c2\u00a0 With stressing over gifts and donations, worrying about various get-togethers,\u00c2\u00a0and dealing with all the other operational issues surrounding this holiday, I’ve almost felt like Christmas has been just another obstacle I have to “get through.”\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n It’s embarrassing to admit this, but I forgot about Jesus.\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n Forgot that this is ALL supposed to be about Him<\/strong>.\u00c2\u00a0 That without Him, none of the rest of it would matter.\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n It was kind of like a gentle slap in the face from up above.\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n One that I desperately needed just two days before Christmas.<\/p>\n Today will still be spent wrapping presents, checking on Paul’s Christmas roast and packing for LA, but I’m not going to let myself get bogged down in these chores.\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n Because now I feel it…that old Christmas spirit…the wonder of the miracle of the birth of a Savior.\u00c2\u00a0 Amazed that as imperfect<\/strong> and broken<\/strong> as I am, I have a Father in Heaven who loves me enough to send His perfect Son to earth to die…<\/em>for me.\u00c2\u00a0 How can you not<\/strong> be blown away by that realization?\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n So on that note, I hope you all have a very Merry Christmas!\u00c2\u00a0 I know I plan to!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I almost forgot this year.\u00c2\u00a0 I knew Christmas was coming, of course, but this year has just been so exhausting that all I could think about was, “I can’t wait for the time off.”\u00c2\u00a0 And that was pretty much the extent of it.\u00c2\u00a0 Until yesterday as I was driving to pick up Paul from the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-151","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-navel-gazing","category-the-good-stuff"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/transcended.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/151","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/transcended.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/transcended.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/transcended.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/transcended.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=151"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/transcended.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/151\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/transcended.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=151"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/transcended.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=151"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/transcended.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=151"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nI bring you good news of a great joy that shall be for all people
\nFor unto you is born this day a Savior, who is Christ the Lord
\nAnd his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Prince of Peace<\/em><\/p>\n