No Tackling The Center

Read on December 5

Story provided by Marty

“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.” —Romans 15:13

Marty’s grandma, known as Granny Truelove, had six children. The family farm had been home to several generations and was the traditional gathering place for Christmas Day. When Christmas Day arrived, seven women brought loads of prepared food and then continued cooking after arriving. 

After lunch had been eaten and the gifts had been opened, the family would go out into the field across the road for a football game. Marty always had to play center, and everyone was issued a “no tackling the center” warning because she was the only girl cousin in the game! 

Marty remembers it was always cold, but nobody cared. She said, “The love of and for family overcame all!”

Christmas is often marked by a sense of abundance, but how do we look for abundance in a Christmas marked by simplicity? 

We can look for those things that were abundant in the first Christmas.

The Bible says, “An angel of the Lord appeared to [the shepherds], and the glory of the Lord shone around them” (Luke 2:9). There was an abundance of God’s glory.

When Mary and Joseph arrived in Bethlehem, there was no room for them in the inn. An abundance of people didn’t realize that the most important moment in history was occurring in their midst. 

When the magi arrived, the gifts they’d brought had abundant value. Those gifts would enable Joseph to keep his wife and son safe in Egypt when they were forced to flee from Herod.

What is abundant this year? 

Many have lost jobs, lost family members, lost in an election, or simply lost hope. They wouldn’t describe this past year as a year of abundance—at least not an abundance of what they would have wanted. 

Mary and Joseph had been through a lot. They’d been engaged, then discouraged, then joyful, then married. They’d made a difficult trip and then were given a cave in which to make their home and their nursery. And then they’d been given the Son of God to raise. They had almost nothing in terms of material prosperity, but they held the most precious gift ever given.

You may or may not have material prosperity this year, but that doesn’t define abundance for a Christian anyway. Our abundance is the hope of Christmas. Jesus is born and we have a Savior. 

We are abundantly blessed.