This is us:
Umm …
Well, this is “us” (the five-year-old is hilarious, isn’t he?! …), but this isn’t the photo we used for our 2020 Christmas photo card.
(Ugh! Take two …)
You know the drill:
The kids get scrubbed, brew the coffee, set up the tri-pod …
And then chase the naked five-year-old around because he won’t wear the cute red sweater.
True story! That lasted a full twenty-minutes.
So, I compromised with the ultra-soft hoodie (which is blue–but, hey, it’s clothing).
And, of course, the question came up from the eight-year-old: “Why does it matter what we wear?”
True. I take a thousand pictures of the kids at noon still in their pajamas.
But THIS picture is different. (Okay, my voice might be been raising by this time.) THIS picture will be on our friends’ fridges for all of 2021.
To prove my point, I asked, “How long have we had our 2019 Christmas card on the refrigerator?”
(He just stared at me, his jaw unhinged. I think I lost him three seconds in. But I was on a roll, so …)
“Twelve months, guys! All year! Do you know what that means?!” (I lost my husband, too, by this point.) “It means …” Pause for dramatic effect. I’m still struggling to get the five-year-old’s arms in the sleeves, by the way. “This picture has to be perfect.”
And that’s when it hit me: Is this really what I want to mail to everyone?
A picture of our family smiling like we’re always that way–after I’ve yelled at them and corralled them like horses? What kind of message am I sending? That I’d rather have a picture-perfect family than my real life? That I’m more proud of my family with their hair tamed than with tangles?
Well, no. I’m proud of our stains and mishaps. But I don’t want that to be the only photo someone sees.
But what about my Christian life? What am I posting for others to see?
(The stuffed animal is facing forward though!)
It’s not wrong to be presentable … and, yeah, we’re giving a lasting impression. But is that where it ends? Does my relationship with God climax after I apply postage?
The easy answer is: Absolutely not! The harder answer: It shouldn’t.
And as I ran to the bathroom to brush my hair for the fourth time during our forty-minute photo-shoot, I decided I don’t want my Christianity to be like this.
I don’t want to be known for looking good as a Christian.
Sure, I need to work on it. I’d like to talk to God first thing instead of being pulled in ten different directions, and read the Bible like it’s a love letter to me, and take the time to sit down with the boys and tell them what we believe and why.
But I’m not there yet … and that’s great!
Because it means Jesus’ birth in Bethlehem means something. Something huge. Something that is great-news-of-great-joy-for-all-the-people huge!
In my Christian life, I want to post snap-shots of dirt stains on my cheeks and my shirt askew, and proclaim, “This is me! I’m a mess. I get depressed. I doubt God’s goodness more times than I should. But you know what? I’m not supposed to have the clean look. I don’t have to! In fact, it’s better if I don’t.
“See these stains? They’re getting cleaned up by God! I used to have a ton more … but Jesus’ righteousness is making me clean. And if this is true for me, it’s true for you too!
“You know what else is great news? God is only one who is holy. Ultra-clean–for real! And there is no blemish on Him–ever! And this isn’t a photo op at a time set-aside for one Saturday morning. God is always perfect.
“And He sent a Savior because my image is messed up, because I can’t clean up on my own. Perfect, unblemished, without any darkness in Him, Holy God who put on flesh, who was born in Bethlehem is really great news! In Jesus, I am clean!”
That’s real Christianity!
And that’s my kind of faith.
I want to be be known as the girl with the smudged lipstick who points to Jesus with a proud smile.
So, yeah, the five-year-old is super cute and even cuter when he can turn away from the camera at just the right second. And my hair with that subtly wind-blown look is actually a second after I brushed it. And my husband rarely wears a tie.
And this Christmas is going to be tough. For lots of us, we’ll miss the laughter and hugs with relatives. We won’t be seeing the glee and joy of gifts being opened and played with.
On the flip-side, this Christmas we can spend time thinking about what lasts, the real source of perfection and holiness and eternity. After that smiling, all-put-together photo card is mailed out and we wake up on Christmas morning with the same folks we wake up with every other morning, we can think about what is truly valuable in life.
Have a blessed Christmas 2020–not behind the Styrofoam smile of our Christmas family photo, but under the shadow of grace, which covers our sins, mistakes, and failures in Jesus’ perfect sparkling glory.
Now that would be a Christmas card worth keeping!
