It's Always Christmas

In my childhood, Christmas was a very positive time.

As is the case with many families, being in my family wasn’t always a good thing. There were good times, but there were also painful times. (I imagine my siblings may have a very different experience, but this is my perspective.)

But Christmas was a time of reprieve from everything negative.

The rest of the year, Dad’s discipline usually came in the form of angry punishment rather than loving correction. The rest of the year, norms in our household were sarcasm, criticism, condemnation, comparison—and encouragement was rare. Coping and survival were my personal patterns for most of the year.

But at Christmas!

Dad and Mom were happy.

We were given gifts!

We were actually given something as a blessing from our parents! On Christmas there was no fear of punishment. Angry words were set aside for the day. My siblings and I were nice to each other. Family interactions were kinder, softer, and gentler. Laughter and generosity filled our home during Christmas. It was a good time for my parents and us children alike. It was a time when love and affection were offered and received. And everyone exchanged good gifts. We all ate together at a table that lacked strife and overflowed with rich and delicious foods.

Over the last few weeks I’ve been asking God to show me deeper levels of his affection and his delight in me. If we don’t know God’s affection and delight, we’ll never know the full extent of his love, so it’s good to ask for this revelation.

Recently, in a prayer time I had an impression of Father God. He was dressed in a St. Nicholas outfit (St. Nicholas, and not Santa Claus. There’s a big difference) He said to my heart:

"It’s always Christmas!"

He was showing me another facet of his infinite nature, and proceeded to offer me several gifts that he knew I have desired. I received them from him in a spiritual form. And until they become realities in the natural realm, I’ll continue to pray about them.

He also gave me one gift of his choosing: a beautiful short sword with an ornately carved silver-gold handle and a gleaming blade. He told me to eat the sword. As I did, I thought of this scripture:

For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart (Heb. 4:12)

I knew that the Father was saying that in my mouth, words have power, and through the words I speak, my Father was giving me a sword of heaven’s influence.

I’ll be unpacking this entire prayer time for a while. But the revelation, the significant truth Father God wanted me to grasp by revealing this particular facet of his nature, is this:

I can ALWAYS approach him with the JOY and FREEDOM that I felt at Christmas during my childhood.

If it’s always Christmas, when I meet Father God:

I can always expect him to be cheerful, joyful, and happy.
I can always expect him to be kind and patient.
I can always expect him to be generous, and to BLESS me.
I can always expect him to give me good gifts.
I can always expect him to be safe when I approach him.
I can always expect him to always be loving, and never punishing.

Mindset shift for many of us.

It’s always Christmas:

What great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! 1 John 3:1
He satisfies your desires with good things . . .Ps 103:5
He is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love. Ps 103:8
I have sworn not to be angry with you, never to rebuke you again. Though the mountains be shaken and the hills be removed, yet my unfailing love for you will not be shaken nor my covenant of peace be removed,” says the Lord, who has compassion on you. Isa. 54:9,10
The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; surely I have a delightful inheritance. Ps. 16:6
No, the Father himself loves you because you have loved me and have believed that I came from God. John 16:27
Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. James 1:17

Our hearts need to be retrained.

From the old to the new. We all have to work through disappointments and things we don’t understand, but as we come to God and give them to him, he turns and begins to make all things new. He’s a good Father and He only gives good gifts.

He’s Father Christmas,

the One who sent Jesus

at Christmastime,

so we could

experience his Fatherhood

in all its

glory and beauty

and joyful truth.

Father, open my eyes to perceive your delight and affection in me; to know when I come to you, I’ll always be welcomed with joy. Let me experience your tender kindness and your goodness more deeply. Thank you that with you, it’s always Christmas.