Christmas In Chaos

Ecclesiastes 9:1 -- "For I have taken all this to my heart and explain it that righteous men, wise men, and their deeds are in the hand of God."

Looking down at my toes under the crisp white hospital blanket I couldn't help but think of all the wonderful things I was suppose to do be doing.   ...wrapping up the last of the gifts instead of looking out at a gray-ish sky from my hospital room. Getting cookies ready to take to the family Christmas eve party instead of trying to turn my head without yanking on the drainage tube just below my left ear. Attending to last minute touch-ups on my make-up and hair instead of fiddling with the gauze bandage wrapped around my head.

I had plans. It was Christmas Eve, for crying out loud! Having a sudden surgery to rid my head/face of a tumor embedded deep in my parotid gland wasn't on the list. At least, it wasn't on my list. I guess it was on my surgeon's list. And all those nice nurses making rounds. And the kitchen crew downstairs....and well, good grief, my Pastor even popped in for a quick hello. On Christmas Eve! How nice was that? Not only that, but my Family Practice Doctor came in to say hello. On Christmas Eve! And then my parents, and the music minister from Church, and our Sunday School teacher .... wow!

Image: BoredPanda [www.boredpanda.com]

In all of this feeling sorry for myself I hadn't stopped to consider that in the middle of this unexpectedness - Christmas WAS actually still happening all around me. In a very beautiful way. I might not have been at my prettiest - what with the drainage tube and the blue hospital gown, etc. but people were walking in with big fat smiles on their faces to tell me Merry Christmas! They probably had plans, too. But they were taking time out from them to grant me some holiday cheer.

Come to think of it - it was just unexpected to me. God knew all about it. He wasn't at all surprised when they removed a tumor the size of a golf ball that seemed to just pop up over night. He wasn't shocked that I'd barely make it home for Christmas. The entire time I felt dazed and overwhelmed, I was in God's wonderful and mighty hands! The ENTIRE time.

I bet Mary had made some plans of her own that first of all Christmases. How excited she must have been, engaged to be married, wrapping up a calendar year with so much hope for the one right around the corner. I'm willing to bet her plans didn't include an unexpected pregnancy, a surprise census, and a long journey on donkey-back with her water about to break. 

But, those things weren't a surprise to God. Indeed, they were long awaited and planned! Every detail. Even the donkey-back ride! Mary's mood probably didn't resemble joy as she hunkered down on the floor of a stable to give birth to her first born child - but the chaotic moment gave us THE most precious and most amazing miracle ever! Now we have joy and real reason to celebrate!

....so what if Mary's original plans had all come to pass? What if that first Christmas and new year had all unfurled without so much as a hitch and just as Mary had imagined? Well, it wouldn't have been Christmas at all, would it?

I'm glad God is the One in control. I'm glad that every day on this earth rests sheltered in His strong hands.

Baby On Board!

Galatians 4:4-5 -- "But when the fullness of the time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law, so that He might redeem those who were under the Law, that we might receive the adoption as sons."

Image: Clive Goddard  [cartoonstock.com]

The house filled up with warm laughter, the smell of coffee, and the din of little ones giggling as they scampered up and down the stairs, getting into trouble for it because "the stairs are not toys!".  Most of us gravitated toward to the back porch where Grandma was seated.  We didn't end up there just because that's where the gifts would be passed around, but because that's where Grandma was. The porch was her dream and when it was finished, it became the heart of the festivities.

As we collected out there, surrounded by Florida beauty - Cypress tress, hanging Spanish Moss, and a Heron or two on the banks of the Saint Johns River, some one eventually played Santa [usually the littlest ones to keep them busy]. Let the passing around of gifts ensue! ...Followed, of course, by the inevitable wrapping paper fight.

It was rumored that Grandpa Claude Saunders himself rolled up the first ball of discarded Christmas wrapping paper and threw it at an unsuspecting passer-by. I don't know about that, and he's no longer here to defend himself - but no matter how it was started,  we are more than happy to keep the tradition going. That is, until one of us gets hits too hard in the face and we get into trouble...and Grandma tells us to settle down and knock it off before somebody REALLY gets hurt.

Yes. We're adults.

My favorite part? The stories. 

Especially Grandma's stories. She is now the family Elder and I like to tease the memories out of her before they fade too far into the past and can no longer be stolen back from that ultimate of all thieves, time. When she gets going, there's not a dry eye in the house - we all get to laughing so hard.

I asked her once, how many of her children were actually born in the hospital. I can't remember the exact number but I DO remember that at least two of them were born in the car on the way there. You see, "way back then" there was no such thing as Orange Park Hospital. Grandma had to get from Doctor's Lake Drive to Gainesville in order to get to the delivery room, and a couple of her little ones just weren't going to wait that long to make their entrance.

Can you imagine that? Giving birth in the car? Ugh. you should see the floor board of my car. My husband eats his lunch in there at lot ... so, well, you can imagine. I wouldn't want to have a baby in it. Where would you put the IV drip? Where would the doctor sit? How would he fit the nurses in there or all that stuff they need to clean the baby up after he/she is born?

Gives me the willies thinkin' about it. I think they must have been a tougher breed of women back in Grandma's day. Ya know, give birth in the mornin', go do chores that afternoon with a newborn strapped to your back or hip.

I tell ya what, Grandma gave a whole new meaning to that little slogan "Baby on Board!".

Now imagine....what Mary must have gone through. She didn't even have the luxury of an automobile. She didn't even have that kind of privacy. No delivery rooms. No doctors.

Wow. Just .... Wow.

And don't even get me started on that donkey ride. Ugh!

I am so very thankful for Christmas. Trust me, I know I get super, super grumpy. At the traffic. At the crowds that run me over with their over-filled buggies. At the chaos and the commercialism. But for the REAL Christmas .... I am so very, very thankful. We are redeemed because God gave us His Son.

How could I NOT want to celebrate that?