{"id":2338,"date":"2020-12-15T10:38:02","date_gmt":"2020-12-15T16:38:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hymnsandhome.com\/?p=2338"},"modified":"2020-12-15T10:38:02","modified_gmt":"2020-12-15T16:38:02","slug":"christmas-magic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hymnsandhome.com\/2020\/12\/15\/christmas-magic\/","title":{"rendered":"Christmas Magic"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>I remember Christmas seeming magical as a young child: the twinkling lights, baking cookies, making my wish list in great anticipation&#8230;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter size-large is-resized\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/hymnsandhome.files.wordpress.com\/2020\/12\/img_3341.jpg?w=819&#038;resize=614%2C767\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-2340\" width=\"614\" height=\"767\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>Somehow as one grows older, it seems, the magic can begin to fade with each passing year as rationalism, skepticism, and the responsibilities of life take hold. Christmas may even become a burdensome list of to-dos, a reminder of financial strain and broken relationships, or even a stressful challenge to outdo oneself from the year before.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And yet, if we pause&#8230;really pause&#8230;and reconsider our perspective&#8230;what is it really all about? I\u2019m not looking to give you a Charlie Brown Christmas moment here. I\u2019m looking for you to let this sink in and apply to your life:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter size-large is-resized\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/hymnsandhome.files.wordpress.com\/2020\/12\/img_3324.jpg?w=819&#038;resize=614%2C767\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-2341\" width=\"614\" height=\"767\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>The very God of the universe came to earth to become like us, to live like us, to suffer like us&#8230;to fulfill all the promises and laws given by God throughout the history of time&#8230;to bear the punishment of every single sin every person would ever commit&#8230;to miraculously rise from death as only God can&#8230;all for YOU &#8211; for me &#8211; for all of us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Take that in for a moment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It\u2019s not just about a sweet baby in the manger &#8211; it\u2019s about Almighty God coming to earth to begin His mission to save YOU. The shadow of the cross was already looming over the manger the day of His birth &#8211; He was here for a purpose &#8211; one He fulfilled perfectly and fully.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter size-large is-resized\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/hymnsandhome.files.wordpress.com\/2020\/12\/img_3346.jpg?w=819&#038;resize=614%2C767\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-2343\" width=\"614\" height=\"767\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>As we live in that awesome reality, a different kind of Christmas joy emerges &#8211; not one of magical twinkling lights (though they are pretty) &#8211; but one of holy awe. Christ would do all this for ME? Yes, because He loves you more than you could ever grasp, however undeserving you may feel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This Christmas I pray you stand in awe, in true peace and joy, and in an excitement that does not die out after the Christmas season is over &#8211; because this joy is eternal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter size-medium\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/hymnsandhome.files.wordpress.com\/2020\/03\/signature-1.png?w=1280\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1347\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Botanical prints shown are available as a free download <a href=\"https:\/\/hymnsandhome.com\/2019\/11\/15\/winter-botany-printables\/\">here<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I remember Christmas seeming magical as a young child: the twinkling lights, baking cookies, making my wish list in great anticipation&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2345,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","wprm-recipe-roundup-name":"","wprm-recipe-roundup-description":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_kadence_starter_templates_imported_post":false,"_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[39,2,46],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2338","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-christmas","category-decorate","category-faith"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hymnsandhome.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/wordpress-featured-image-6.png?fit=1800%2C942&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hymnsandhome.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2338","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hymnsandhome.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hymnsandhome.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hymnsandhome.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hymnsandhome.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2338"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hymnsandhome.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2338\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hymnsandhome.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2345"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hymnsandhome.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2338"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hymnsandhome.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2338"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hymnsandhome.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2338"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}