The Loop

I don’t know about you, but this time of year doesn’t always feel like a blessing. 

I love Christmas, don’t get me wrong. In fact, I normally start playing Christmas music sometime in July when I wish it wasn’t 95 degrees and humid anymore. But it’s not a surprise to anyone that Christmas also comes with a certain kind of...oh, what do you call it...chaos? 

It can be a time of much fun and joy with family and friends, a blessing to have as you close out the year. But it can also be a time where you storm out of a family get-together because your dog broke a table and there was a heated exchange. Not that I’ve experienced that or anything. I say all of that because you get the point: Christmas can be such a blessing, but it can also be a major stressor as well. 

Rather than focus on the stress, I want to take a minute to focus on the blessing of it all. The first Christmas story is a tale as old as time. Many of us read it together on Christmas morning and celebrate the introduction of baby Jesus into the world. But sometimes, I think we forget just how monumental of a moment this was.  

Up until that moment the world had been chaotic and stressful, especially to the Jewish people. They had been taken over by multiple different world powers, led failed rebellions, and hadn’t heard from one of God’s messengers in over 400 years. They were alone, hurting, and desperate.  

And then, Jesus showed up.  

They may not have gotten it right away, but the greatest blessing to ever grace this earth made his entrance and nothing has ever been the same since. Despite the way culture has infiltrated how people view the holiday, it’s why we celebrate the season still to this day. We know what it meant for us. We celebrate and remember all that Jesus would end up doing as an act of blessing and love for us. In turn, we are reminded of how we are called to do the same.  

That’s the idea we are talking to our students about this month. Blessing others doesn’t just have to happen during Christmas, the time when it is always talked about. It can, and should, happen all throughout the year. We want others to say they are #blessed the other 11 months of the year because of how those who follow Jesus have loved them well. Living a life of being a blessing could change everything, just like Jesus did 2,000 years ago. 

From all of us on the kStudents team, Merry Christmas! 

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