Difficult Christmas Visitors

Christmas is a time for family. If you have a wonderful family, your home is probably filled with joy and laughter. You anxiously anticipate the arrival of family members from far-off places. Though your home might feel cramped with the addition of so many bodies, you happily boot the children from their beds and carve out space on the floor for sleeping bags.

If this is the scenario in your home, count yourself blessed. For other families, old wounds and continued slights make the holidays a time of stress. Maybe you have a family member who says hurtful things. Maybe you feel unloved. Maybe one of your family members plays favorites with your kids. All of these things can add up to a feeling of dread when it's time for a family visit.

When it comes to dealing with visitors during the holidays, we should take a page out of Mary's book. Let me set the scene for you. Mary has just given birth in a smelly, dirty stable. As we all know, having a baby isn't a clean process. It's also exhausting. I'm sure she would have simply liked to take a nap afterward. Yet, what happens after she lays Jesus in the manger? Some guys she's never met show up to see the baby. Not only are they strangers, but they smell like sheep. And these guys don't even bring gifts.

Now, I would have been tempted to tell these shepherds to go away and come back at a better time. But, obviously, Mary and Joseph let them into the stable to see Jesus because Luke 2:16-18 says "So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them."

Because Mary was gracious enough to let the shepherds in to see Jesus -- even though it wasn't the ideal time for her -- the shepherds were able to be the first to spread the good news of Jesus. Because of Mary's hospitality, perfect strangers were "amazed." Whether we're dealing with unexpected visitors or planned ones, our attitude toward their visit gives them an impression of God. If we're warm and welcoming, showing them our hospitality, then they can leave having felt the love of God.

I know some people are hard to love, others are high-maintenance visitors, some arrive at inopportune times, but every time we welcome someone into our homes, we are given an opportunity to be a picture of God's love to them. No matter how we feel about someone, God loves them.

Being gracious and doing our best to let God love our difficult family members through us also gives our kids an example of God's love. Our kids can tell from our actions whether we enjoy somone else's company. But we never want our kids to form a poor impression of their relatives because we're hanging onto a grudge or refusing to let God open our eyes to see that person as He sees them. Our attitude toward those who enter our homes during the holidays makes an impression on our kids.

If your kids have trouble getting along with some of your extended family members, remind your kids that God wants us to show love to everyone. Ask them to help you think of ways you can show love to that person while they are in your home. Explain that we won't always receive that love back, but God wants us to love the other person, no matter what their response.

Don't let another person suck the joy out of your holiday season. View a difficult visit as an opportunity for your entire family to be the hands and feet of Christ in showing love to that person. It may be just what they need and they may leave as amazed by the love of God as the shepherds.

Memory Monday: The Shepherds (Luke 2:8-11)

I've always been fascinated by the shepherds to whom the angels appeared on that first Christmas night. I mean, here are these guys out on a hill, watching their sheep. They might have been talking about the weather or shooting the breeze about the best method to fight off a wild animal. Being a shepherd wasn't the most exciting job in the world. Mostly you just led the sheep around and made sure they didn't get lost or hurt.

All of a sudden, an angel appears out of nowhere and starts talking to them. I'm pretty sure that angels aren't the cute little cherubs that we like to depict them as because every time an angel shows up the first words out of his mouth are "Do not be afraid." I think they probably look more like warriors than they do cute, little cherubs.

Ok, so this angel shows up and has these shepherds quaking in their sandals. And what does he say? Luke 2:8-11 describes the scene like this "And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, 'Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord.'"

The first people that got the message that the Savior had been born was not a king or even a religious leader. It was a bunch of lowly shepherds. These guys were not considered important people in society. They were probably the youngest sons in their families. They weren't the smartest, strongest, most important people around. They were just normal, everyday people.

And, what did they do? They left their sheep to go see Jesus! Shepherds don't leave their sheep. Sheep are defenseless without a shepherd. But these guys got up and went to see Jesus. Now, maybe they left one guy behind (and wouldn't you have hated to be him?), but they immediately went to see this amazing thing the angels had told them about.

I bet God wishes we were more like the shepherds sometimes. He shows us something amazing, and instead of being awed by it or immediately dropping what we're doing to be a part of what God is doing, we analyze and overthink the situation. The shepherds knew they were part of something amazing -- I mean, angels had just appeared to them -- so they went to check it out.

As you learn these verses this week, think about how the shepherds reacted to the Good News of Jesus' birth. They dropped everything to celebrate. How can you celebrate Jesus' birth like the shepherds did?

• Have a birthday party for Jesus. Make a cake and sing happy birthday to Jesus. You can even hang streamers. Talk about how God wants us to praise Him and celebrate Jesus' birth.
• Analyze your schedule for the month. Are you doing things that are just filling up your schedule instead of things that are important. Is Jesus getting squeezed out of your Christmas celebrations or is He the center? Make adjustments to your schedule to put Jesus at the center.
• Talk with your kids about the shepherds and how they celebrated Jesus' birth. Ask your kids how they think the shepherds might have felt when the angels showed up.

Be a shepherd this week. Be prepared to drop everything when a moment to celebrate Jesus' birth presents itself.