The baths given by this Papa Behr to his Behr Cubs when they were babies were usually festive occasions. The warm water was like a playground; add some duckies, squirt bottles and bubbles, and the entertainment was nonstop, the contagious baby giggles hard to resist!
When I finished I knew which to keep: the baby, not the bath water.
Like a baby bath, each year American Christians surround the Baby of Christmas with fresh warm bath water and bubbles. We sing, we decorate, we bake! We encourage others with gifts as we too are encouraged – by the giggling Baby of Christmas.
But on a recent trip to the Far East I encountered Christmas celebrations – our holiday decorations, our music, etc – with no sign of the Baby. They threw out the Baby and kept the bath water.
I understand why they do it: I believe it is the human condition to want to party, and let’s face it, the American Christmas is some good bath water! If anything, the Baby of Christmas SHOULD make us want to party, and party hard!
But has too much of the festive in our Christmas become the bath water? Put up the lights, bake the cookies, shop, etc, etc. Our punch lists of things to be done quickly overshadow and push out of the picture that cute little Baby in our midst, and what He did to make us want to celebrate in the first place.
So here’s your assignment this Christmas: Talk to that Baby (baby talk is ok, probably what He hears anyway), then shop. Talk to that Baby, then bake those cookies. Talk to that Baby, then put up those decorations. Most importantly, TALK TO THE BABY! And enjoy the message He brings!
And your assignment after Christmas? Rinse: don’t keep the bath water! And Repeat: Don’t stop celebrating that infectious love of that Baby!
Merry Christmas!!
PS: I leave you with a poem called “I Celebrate The Day” from one of my favorite poets, Relient K:
And with this Christmas wish is missed
The point I could convey
If only I could find the words to say to let You know
How much You’ve touched my life because
Here is where You’re finding me
In the exact same place as New Year’s Eve
And from the lack of my persistency
We’re less than half as close as I wanna be
And the first time that You opened Your eyes
Did You realize that You would be my Savior?
And the first breath that left Your lips
Did You know that it would change this world forever?
And so this Christmas I’ll compare
The things I’ve felt in prior years
To what this midnight made so clear
That You have come to meet me here
To look back and think that
This Baby would one day save me
And the hope that, that You give
That You were born so I might really live
To look back and think that
This Baby will one day save me
And the first time that You opened Your eyes
Did You realize that You would be my Savior?
And the first breath that left Your lips
Did You know that it would change this world forever?
And I, I celebrate the day that You were born to die
So I could one day pray for You to save my life
Pray for You to save my life.
Pray for You to save my life!