Celebrate Me Home - A 3-Day Devotional by CAINSample

 Celebrate Me Home: Day 2

Madison Cain

There is no universal measurement for Christmas spirit. There’s lots of songs to describe the feeling. We all celebrate in similar ways: family get-togethers, opening presents, eating too much food. But how do we know that you and I mean the same thing when we mention it?

I’d like to take you on a sensory journey. Settle in, use your imagination, and let’s see if we can fully describe what “Christmas spirit” actually is. You’re sitting in your living room, and a familiar song comes on. “The Christmas Song” by Nat King Cole to be exact. As the string section begins, you take a deep breath. You probably over-breathe, hoping that the extra breaths will store up this feeling for later. You stare around the room like your eyes are taking pictures. You grin and nod at your Christmas tree, “Mr. Tree, you’ve done a mighty fine job bringing us all together.” You study your family as they laugh at one another. You smile to yourself, remembering the same scene from childhood. You feel a welling up right under your sternum. You could call it contentment.. or thankfulness, but it’s more than that. It’s the anticipation of the celebration ahead with the overwhelming urge to will time to stop.  

This year, I’ve had serious doubts that I’ll feel Christmas spirit at all. All the ingredients don’t add up. We’ve got less money to buy presents, less family we can see safely, less traveling, less parties, less merry, less Christmas. But I had a realization. What if during those moments where we felt “Christmas spirit,” we were actually sensing the presence of the Holy Spirit? Let’s go back to our Christmas Spirit example above. What if, in that living room, you were flooded with joy and thankfulness, not because of nostalgia or a sugar rush, but because you were standing in the presence of God? What if it wasn’t an elusive feeling of magic, but the Holy Spirit was filling your home? Psalm 100:4 says, “Enter His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise; give thanks to Him and praise His name.” When you notice simple blessings around you and are thankful, you enter into the God’s presence. The feeling our hearts crave is a person, and He is ever-present as long as we call on Him. If Christmas spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control… then there’s hope for Christmas after all.