Today’s devotional is by Trudy Kellum. Thanks, see Trudy!

Scripture: Matthew 2:11-12 (The Message)
They entered the house and saw the child in the arms of Mary, his mother. Overcome, they kneeled and worshiped him. Then they opened their luggage and presented gifts: gold, frankincense, and myrrh.  In a dream, they were warned not to report back to Herod. So they worked out another route, left the territory without being seen, and returned to their own country.

Thought for the Day: It’s the day after Christmas. The running around trying to complete a million and one last minute items on the to-do list, the anticipation and excitement of seeing the children’s faces light up on Christmas morning, the gathering of friends and family for a Christmas day feast… all of that has passed. I sometimes feel myself feeling a little bit melancholy the day after Christmas. As wonderful as Christmas is, it can also be draining—emotionally, physically, financially, etc. Add to that less-than-idyllic situations such as being separated from loved ones during the holidays, hurtful memories, coping with illness or loss, and you’ve really got a recipe for emotional disaster at this time of year!

Events of my life over the last decade have caused me to adjust the way I view the holidays. The coping mechanism that I’ve discovered is this: instead of putting all of the emphasis on a single day of celebration (i.e. Christmas day), I view Christmas as a range of experiences. It’s all of the events pre- and post-Christmas that are Christmas to me now.

The birth of Jesus was an event, certainly, but it’s the full range of Jesus’ life that we are called to embrace. In our lives, single events such as births, deaths, marriages, and baptisms, mark important milestones along our journey, but it’s the full range of our life experience that makes us who we are.

Prayer: Glorious God, thank you for the beautiful celebration of Christ’s birth, and also for the fact that the gift didn’t stop there. Thank you for the full range of Jesus’ life, and our own.  May the peace, joy, hope, and love exemplified in Christmas pervade our being always. Amen.