When the kids were little holiday planning was a little more tidy. Rich worked shift work so we picked a day when Rich was off and we knew we would have the whole day to play with the kids and enjoy them enjoying their new toys. It might be December 22nd when Santa would come to our house or maybe even the 19th depending on our schedule. Much to the dismay of my nephew who always got his toys on the 25th and couldn’t understand why my kids got them early. “Santa likes us better I guess.” Was my answer to that question one year as the cute little red head stood there with his mouth agape. Probably not the nicest thing to say, but it gave me a good laugh.

This year two of my four are married so we pick our time for different reasons as they have so many places they need to show up at and enjoy time with all the family God has blessed them with. I get it. I was a newlywed once too.

Things change. Some changes are welcomed and anticipated. Excitement and joy surrounds them. Others are forced on us like a tight pair of jeans after a Christmas Feast. They will go on one way or another and it will be uncomfortable until we adjust to them or lose some weight.

Maybe it’s just the time of my life, middle aged, though I choke at the thought of saying it. (I still feel like I’m in my 20’s in my heart) But everything is changing. I’ve enjoyed some of it, no more toddlers to chase and diapers to change. But some of it, not so much. It’s those changes that leaves me searching for a constant that doesn’t change. Something I can hook my anchor into and make sure I don’t drift too far away from the comfortable life I had built before the changes arrived.

Emmanuel , God with Us, you hear that a lot this time of year. It’s the very thing the Angel told Joseph when his comfortably planned life was fixing to be interrupted by the change of becoming the stand in Father for God’s Son. (Talk about pressure to perform). Matthew 1:22-23

But that very statement really is an anchor in a life shifted and altered by currents beyond our control. The birth of the baby Jesus we celebrate this time of year introduces us to something that is unchanging which is Him. Hebrews 13:8 says “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever”. He is with us now as He was with us then on a dark night in Bethlehem so many years ago. He doesn’t leave us or forsake us when things get rearranged in our lives and what we had going looks nothing like the life we are going into. God with Us! What a comfort! What a joy! What a gift given so freely to us and celebrated this season no matter how different it may look from the last.