♦ Do you love the spicy scents of cinnamon tea and peppermint candles, the crisp freshness of new fallen snow, the warm mingling of honeyed ham and straight-from-the-oven sugar cookies?
♦ Is it the music? Do you experience a dopamine high after crying about Christmas shoes? Or do you prefer belly laughing at Granny's reindeer run-over? Do you like the mesmerizing thrumming of a shepherd boy's drum? Or a stark a cappella Mary, Did You Know?
♦ Is it the memory lane of bedtime stories about ice queens or nutcracker soldiers? About Grinches or ghosts of Christmas futures? About snowmen come to life or the hopes of lonely fir trees in the forest? Or tales of trains, or reindeer, or hot air balloons that transport us into a world of wonder? Do you fall asleep at night listening for the jingle of sleigh bells on the roof? ♦ Perhaps you love the workplace party, including shopping for $7 sweaters at the thrift store so you can win the $10 Starbucks gift card for Most Obnoxious Outfit? Or do you prefer the requisite gift exchange where you get to re-gift the Santa cheese spreader from your last job?
♦ Maybe you like the decorating? One can never have too much glitter garland! Unpacking the old ornaments is like the thrill of opening a time capsule, isn't it?
♦ How about the Christmas movies? Do you like buying the giant bag of Black & White chocolate drizzle popcorn at Sam's Club and plopping down to watch a movie marathon?
And what does this have to do with a runaway bride?
I will tell you!
Lots of people LOVE Christmas, but they do not want a Lord. They want the Bells and the Whistles, but not the smell of the manger. They want to feel the Joy and the Peace of a Savior, but they rebel when a Lord requires the obedience of a flight to Egypt, away from their old life, even though staying has become dangerous for them.
When KatieLyn went running off in the middle of the night, and then told everyone that the she was in love with the idea of marriage but not with Joe, she was effectively saying that she is in love with the twinkling lights of Christmas, with the baubles on the tree, with deciding if Carol of the Bells should make the playlist, but that she chose not to stick around long enough to follow the Christ Child and walk out His plan for her life! Her stated reasoning was as flaky as wet snow. (I am not sure that her stated reason was her real reason; I tend to believe that she was following the model of her childhood training and trying to save face. If so, it did not work.) Flamboyance is not a good substitute for shallowness of words and action.
A real Christmas requires first the birth of a Savior, but also accepting Him as Lord. Like those who love celebrating Christmas but want to skip the Baby Jesus, KatieLyn's pronouncement that she was in love with marriage but did not want a husband is nonsensical. A real marriage requires one husband and one wife. She knew this; she knew what she wanted, and if we are being truthful here, it was her mother who did not want her to be married to Joe. KatieLyn was somewhere between spineless enough to go along with it and happy to accept her mother's confusion as an excuse—it is a sliding scale of degrees, but the same issue: she had chosen to reject God's plan for her life.
Mary's attitude toward betrothal is in stark contrast to KatieLyn's. Can you imagine KatieLyn ever having the courage to say something like this?
"And Mary said, Yes, I see it all now: I'm the Lord's maid, ready to serve. Let it be with me just as you say." Luke 1:38 (Message Bible).
KatieLyn started out that way, but changed her choice.
Later in that first chapter, we see more of Mary's quick obedience to God.
45 Blessed woman, who believed what God said, believed every word would come true!
46 And Mary said, I'm bursting with God-news;
47 I'm dancing the song of my Savior God.
48 God took one good look at me, and look what happened — I'm the most fortunate woman on earth! What God has done for me will never be forgotten,
49 the God whose very name is holy, set apart from all others.
50 His mercy flows in wave after wave on those who are in awe before him.
~ The Message Bible
The Lesson
God's mercy is on those that fear him, who revere him. Or as Gill's Exposition of the Bible explains, "with reverence and godly fear; with a filial fear, with a reverential love of God, and affection for him." Those who want the goodies of Christmas but do not want a Lord lack that awesome affection. God faithfully keeps His promises. He called KatieLyn to be His handmaiden and was preparing a place for her. God is faithful, through whom you were called into fellowship with His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. 1 Corinthians 1:9.
Gill continues:
God is always true to his promises: whatever he has said, he will do it; he will never suffer his faithfulness to fail; and since he has made so many promises concerning the establishment of his people, and their perseverance to grace, they may assure themselves of them; and also from his having called them by his grace, for whom he effectually calls by his grace, he glorifies.God had promised KatieLyn a husband; He was faithful and brought her one. She would have been glorified in that. She chose not to trust His choice for her. When she rejected Joe, she rejected Jesus' plan for her. When you reject Christ in your Christmas, everything that is left is worldly, expensive, or fattening.
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