Perhaps my favorite thing about the story of Christmas is that it is so relatable to real life. After all, the story doesn’t take place in luxurious palaces or a golden crib, and the characters in it aren’t the "who’s who" of society nor those living in comfort and privilege.
Rather, the story involves everyday people living ordinary lives; who - in the midst of them - are receptive to the part which they can play in helping the extraordinary love of God to enter into our world.
This earthiness and grittiness of the story of Christmas is why it still continues to resonate with me, because the reality is that everyday life can sometimes - or oftentimes - be really difficult for a lot of us.
And despite everything - despite how life can be really difficult sometimes, despite how the world can feel really heavy, despite the disappointments which I’ve had over the years which can cause me to tend toward cynicism, in spite of those times when things can feel hopeless, and despite how consumerism and religious pop culture has sentimentalized, domesticated, and commodified the holiday - I can’t be untouched or unaffected by the simple beauty and hope of the story of Christmas.
Even during times when my instinctual reaction is to try to wall myself off from it, or to try achieve some emotional distance from it; the Christmas story's real life hope and beauty somehow work their way into my heart and soul, regardless of my stubborn efforts to prevent it.
