Christmas brings temporary insanity to the UK. Think about it. We cut down pine trees and erect them in our
living rooms, kiss distant aunties we don't like, and gorge on tasteless meat
with Brussels sprouts whilst donning party hats and pulling crackers. And what about the shopping! We spend hours
in busy shopping malls, buying expensive presents no one needs, with money we
don't have, in a desire to keep up with everyone else's generosity.
Christmas becomes The Day of Getting; huge piles
of presents under the tree, where we all play the children's game ‘how many are
for me?’. Tearing off carefully wrapped
paper, ribbons, bows, to glimpse briefly at the present before returning our
gaze to the next. We yearly mount the
stairs later that day with armfuls of presents coupled with a sense of
disappointment, a longing for more, a sense of deeper hunger.
C S Lewis wrote "earthly pleasures were
never meant to satisfy ‘desire’ but only arouse it, to suggest the real thing."
Our yearnings and restlessness will never be
satisfied with the getting of more. These
things only bloat us to uncomfortable proportions, like stomachs after Christmas
pud. Yearning, hunger and restlessness are reminders that God has made us this way;
a divine compass in the heart of mankind, pointing us to a greater reality -
God himself. We are programmed with an endless capacity for knowledge and
experience, but will never feel full.
This year Heather and I stood on the edge of
Niagara Falls, with all of its powerful
majesty. We cruised the fjords of
Norway, worshipped in crowds of thousands at Westpoint and recently celebrated
my mums 80th birthday surrounded by all the family. Rich experiences, heaven blessed. And yet immersed in each experience there is
a sense of longing - glorious moments slipping between our fingers like some
slippery bar of soap.
Truth is we are made for a better country, a
heavenly one, a city God has prepared for us (Heb:11). God has put eternity in the hearts of men, and
Christmas reminds us that we are homesick for the eternal, and that is why more
than any time of the year we feel this greater pull. It's meant to be this way, we were made for
God, the real thing.
