When Perfect Pinterest Grandma 1st Christmas Meets the Nativity Story

 “The Word became flesh and blood,
   and moved into the neighborhood.
We saw the glory with our own eyes,
  the one-of-a-kind glory,
  like Father, like Son,
Generous inside and out,
  true from start to finish.” John 1:14 The Message

“And I will declare to them, “I never knew ; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.” Matthew 7:23

Last year was my first grandbaby’s first Christmas.  Like a George Bailey after his angel has gotten his wings, I was overjoyed at this second chance to right all the wrongs I had made as a Christmas time parent failure. From the beginning, I was going to point this precious little angel to Jesus. Pining over Pinterest for the perfect ideas on how to win her heart early, I settled on the sweetest idea I could find.  I would buy her one of those Fisher Price Nativity sets and I would hand-write a scripture and a devotion to go with each piece of her set, then I would gift wrap each one and give her one piece at a time so that she could reflect upon the true meaning of Christmas as she built up to the her final installment, baby Jesus, who would arrive on Christmas Eve!  It was BRILLIANT!  I was sure that this would become her most meaningful Christmas tradition right from the start and that one day, when she was a grandma herself, she would pull those tattered and torn well-loved, brown, hand-written treasures from her apron pocket as she unveiled each well-loved nativity piece to share this tradition with her own grandchildren.  PURE CHRISTMAS MAGIC, like a Hallmark movie just for grandparents!

Only, it didn’t happen that way.  Not even close.  My heart jumped for joy the first time I came to baby-sit after these gifts began arriving. I just knew they would be properly displayed front and center, the notes neatly tucked away, or displayed in a place of prominence.  I guess my years of being detached from the throws of first year parenting had thrown me into a Glorious Fantasy Grandma slumber that I was quickly shaken from when I saw that old familiar look of desperation mixed with exhaustion on my poor daughter-in -law’s face. My dreams of being the Perfect Pinterest Christmas grandma fell to the ground, just like the Fisher Price Nativity Pieces that I now saw strewn across the floor.

My grandma heart that once craved tradition reached out and, instead laid hold of the one for whom it was all about.  She was knee deep in teething! Those cards of devotion I had so painstakingly hand crafted, bore the slobber and tooth marks to prove it.  And not only the cards, but also the wise men, Joseph, Mary, the Shepherds, and even the barn animals had all seen their share of trauma from a baby who was more interested in how they tasted than the story that they told.  I LOVED the gift idea and all my naively planned out projections of how they would land in my grand-babies Christmas story, but she wanted to EXPERIENCE this gift, at least the only way she knew how to at the moment, with her mouth.

Somehow, I believe this pleased Jesus.  He didn’t come for us to gaze upon Him in Pinterest wonder, He came so that we might EXPERIENCE Him, even if it’s in the only way that we know how.

I stayed away from church for many years because what I saw in the window did not bear witness with what I saw in me.  I am so thankful for Jesus who never stopped pursuing me, the One who reminding me, “I was born in a barn, of course you are welcome here!”   He celebrated as I “cut my teeth” on Mary and how she exclaimed, “…let it be to me according to your word.” (Luke 1:38), and learned to walk while holding on to baby Jesus, remembering that, He is Emmanuel, my with of God, in whom I could trust in, no matter what my life looked like.

One day I will stand before Him and He won’t be looking for a beautiful image that I was able to portray to the world, He will be looking for one thing only, did I KNOW Him, did I let myself experience Him? Did I truly taste and see that the LORD is good?  It may mean that this life looks a little disorderly at times, and, like my precious daughter-law, I may need to be humble enough to let others in and to see the goodness of God working amid the mess of it all.

And it may mean that I must become more childlike in my approach to Jesus.  I may have to exchange my Pinterest projects for human frailties, I may have to accept that all God really wants from me is to know and experience Him. It’s not a picture-perfect nativity scene He is after, but a heart that wants to enter His story rather than just present it.  And in doing so, we allow the Greater Story to unfold within us, and THAT STORY is better than any Hallmark grandma could ever come up with.