Ask just about anyone and they’ll say that New Years Day is the perfect time to start fresh, but ask me and I’ll say it’s at Christmas.
I love everything about Christmas, but what I love most is what it represents. I know I’m a few days late (but really I’m still full of Christmas Spirit), but the rest of this post was written a few weeks ago, so forgive me for waiting until now to share:
Tonight I am angry, I am frustrated, and I am full of my own selfish pride. Is this my proudest moment? Definitely not. Is this my worst moment? Definitely not. Do I have to keep myself in this mindset because that’s just who I am? Thanks to my Savior, definitely not.
Christmas to me is all about new beginnings. A time that reminds me both of who I was at my worst and who I hope to be in my future. Why? Because we have been given the incredibly undeserved gift of a second chance through a beautiful exchange.
We don’t have to look at ourselves in the mirror every morning, wishing we could somehow forget the mistakes of our past and be a better person. Because Jesus Christ loved us enough to humbly come into a broken world to give himself in exchange for our shortcomings, we don’t just “wish” for a chance to begin again, we are given that very chance every single day, in every single moment.
We have hope. We have hope in the promises our Heavenly Father has made and in the birth of a Savior that came to wash away our sins and offer us a fresh start, a new beginning.
You don’t have to be who you used to be, or even who are you right now in this moment. You have the ability to pick yourself up, climb into the loving arms of your Savior, and choose to begin again.
You have the choice of embracing all that He has offered you. Does that mean you will never make another mistake? Definitely not. But by the grace of God it means you are no longer defined by those mistakes.
You have been offered new life. A new, eternal, hopeful, joyful, love-filled life now stands in the place of the broken, angry, messed-up, failure that you had deemed your life to be.
This is the gift of Christmas. This is why I celebrate, why I cherish, and why I seemingly turn into a 5-year old when I think of this time of year. I have been made new. I have been forgiven. I have been redeemed. And you can say the same for yourself because of the gift born on Christmas.
“And she will have a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” -Matthew 1:21
“I will honor Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year.”