Wow! I can’t believe another year is wrapping up. The saying “How quickly time flies when you’re having fun” should say “How quickly time flies whether you’re having fun or just trying to survive the holiday season.” It’s confounding to me that the last days of December just keep disappearing despite my “Just say NO in November” that seems like only yesterday. However, weeks later I haven’t managed to say “NO” to anything, except sleep. In fact, I’ve pretty much said “YES” to everything which has kept me running around like Run, Run Rudolph. Though I have a great boss that is always telling me “You don’t have to say yes to everything” it’s really hard for me to think I don’t have to. But it’s true. I really don’t have to. I don’t get paid for any weekends or for all the late nights, nothing over 40 hours makes me another dime. So why pretty much volunteer another 10-20 hours every week when I really don’t have to? Well, it’s not because I have to; it’s more like I get to.

Perhaps my pastor explained it better in this week’s sermon “You Don’t Have To.”

He preached from a very familiar scripture passage, especially this time of year, Luke 1:26-45 which says: “And in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God unto a city of Galilee, named Nazareth, To a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin’s name was Mary.

And the angel came in unto her, and said, Hail, thou that art highly favored, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women.

And when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and cast in her mind what manner of salutation this should be.

And the angel said unto her, Fear not, Mary: for thou hast found favor with God.

And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name Jesus.

He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David: And he shall reign over the house of Jacob forever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end.

Then said Mary unto the angel, How shall this be, seeing I know not a man?

And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.

And, behold, thy cousin Elisabeth, she hath also conceived a son in her old age: and this is the sixth month with her, who was called barren.

For with God nothing shall be impossible. And Mary said, Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word. And the angel departed from her.

And Mary arose in those days, and went into the hill country with haste, into a city of Juda; And entered into the house of Zacharias, and saluted Elisabeth.

And it came to pass, that, when Elisabeth heard the salutation of Mary, the babe leaped in her womb; and Elisabeth was filled with the Holy Ghost: And she spoke out with a loud voice, and said, Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb.

And whence is this to me that the mother of my Lord should come to me?

For, lo, as soon as the voice of thy salutation sounded in mine ears, the babe leaped in my womb for joy.

And blessed is she that believed: for there shall be a performance of those things which were told her from the Lord.”

I know many of us have heard this story and we think we know all about the miraculous conception of the Christ Child and his lowly birth, but sometimes God makes us see even a bigger picture – one that still brings a tear to my eyes and reminds me why Jesus chose to come as a helpless baby to save us all.

So let me go back a few days to Friday when I finally finished up the first two weeks of December covering 27 events, meetings and appointments. To say I was exhausted would be an understatement. But when I was asked to come watch a movie at the cinema on Saturday with the Checotah First United Methodist Church, of course I said “Yes” once again.

However, this time I was the one blessed by watching the movie “The Best Christmas Pageant Ever,” which was based off a children’s novel written by Barbara Robinson over 52 years ago. It tells the story of six mean misfits, The Herdmans, who volunteer to star in their town’s 75th Christmas pageant. Everyone in the town, especially the church, frown upon the idea of these heathen children playing such significant roles in their precious play. After all, they smoke cigars, cuss, drink jug wine, shoplift and even commit arson, yet in the end, it is the Herdman children who actually teach the whole town the true meaning of Christmas.

After all, didn’t Christ come as a babe wrapped in swaddling clothes to show us his humanity? What started with a cradle was always meant to end with a cross.

Think about it, when He came as a baby, heaven was held by humanity. And the reason why heaven was held by humanity was so that humanity could then be held by heaven. So even in the over-filled calendars and crazy seasons of our lives, we can look back and see that we have been held by heaven too.

When life gets too busy in certain seasons of our lives, we often question how we are going to do it all? Even Mary questioned how? But when Gabriel answered her he didn’t say how – he said WHO! I know how it feels to be humbled by the “how” but God says HE that began a good work in you will fulfill it. It’s not you having to do it all. He will accomplish the work. A lot of the gifts that God gives us feel like work when we lose our perspective. Things like our marriages, our families and our jobs become pressures under the heaviness of our responsibilities. But instead of thinking I’ve got to do this or that, remind yourself you get to. I get to watch my child in a play or concert. I get to take pictures of so many people and all the Christmas activities. I get to hear the story of Jesus’ birth one more time and tell others of His wondrous love for ALL of humanity.

After all, isn’t the real miracle of Christmas the fact that we couldn’t get to Jesus, so He came down to us? And I don’t have to tell others about Him, but glory to God I get to.