Each year at Christmas, I plan to be on top of things. Each year, I fail. And then beat myself up.
It doesn't help me to be mindlessly scrolling through social media. With each picture of the "Perfect Christmas Tree" or the "Perfectly Decorated Table" or whatever "Perfect" image has been posted for whatever reason, I get this nagging feeling that I didn't quite make it. Didn't quite measure up. Missed it by a long shot.
But I have got some good news. It is into this mess, our Savior came.
I've been to many birth's. Many in the sterile environment of the hospital, attended by skilled doctors and nurses. Others in the privacy and comfort of a home, attended by a skilled midwife. Each place, well prepared for a birth. Clean linens, warm blankets, lots of light, fresh heated water. Clean instruments to cut the cord. A soft hat for the baby's head.
Mary's birthing environment would not meet any of our expectations. What mother would give birth in a barn?
Maybe Mary suffered from the comparison trap too.
Can't you just hear her thinking, "What kind of mother am I?"
Chosen one, that's what. A chosen mother.
Where have you failed to meet expectations this Christmas? This year?
Can you believe that the Father has chosen you - imperfections and all?
He has created you as ONE OF A KIND! No one like you!
"Don't compare your behind the scenes to other people's highlight reel." Steven Furtick
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Last Wednesday, I was preparing to drive my older daughters to before-school Bible Study. The van was running and the heater working hard to take the chill out of the air. Frost settled hard on the windshield and needed to be scraped off if I was going to see where I was driving. As I waited for both girls, I sat in the chilly van. And this is the image that greeted me. Perfectly shaped crystals.
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Frosty crystals on my driver's side window that looked a whole lot like snow flakes.
Snow flakes symbolize individuality. There are no two snowflakes alike, just like there are no two fingerprints alike! There is NO ONE LIKE YOU!
At the beginning of the month, I received snow flake ornaments in the mail. I wrote about them in my very first email newsletter! For the benefit of those who joined this group later, here is an excerpt from my first letter:
You Are Fearfully and Wonderfully Made
"I was praying for direction yesterday and I felt the Lord say, "Get the mail." I walked to the mailbox in the cold rain and pulled out the few pieces of mail. We've been getting lots of Amazon packages as the Christmas gifts my children are buying for each other arrive, but this wasn't an Amazon package that waited for me. A bubble mailer from Susquehanna Pregnancy Services - our local pregnancy center that we love to support through out the year. (Pregnancy and babies are my thing, since I am an OB nurse.) I opened the mailer, addressed to Brian and me.
Inside was a card and two distinctly different wooden snowflake ornaments. 
Attached to each ornament was the simple phrase: "You are fearfully and wonderfully made." Boom. Tears stung my eyes and a lump formed in my throat. My verse. The one that talks about babies being formed in the mama's womb. Intricately woven - never hidden. (I wrote a post about this verse and my twin birth called, Two Daddy Two, We Only Ordered One!) God has been impressing this truth on my heart for years and I want every woman to grasp it. "
Can you believe it? You are unique. You are precious.
You are ONE OF A KIND.
Father,
Sometimes I find it hard to believe
that you would love me
the way I am.
I fail. I fall. I falter.
And yet you still choose me.
Help me to believe it
with my heart.
Move it from my head
down to the itty-bitty
nooks and crannies of my heart.
Thank you for coming
as a baby
into a less than perfect world
to save a less than perfect me.
In Jesus' Name,
Amen
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