December 2019 - LPNI

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December 2019

A ‘Down-to-Earth’ Christmas

How do you handle the expectations of others? Nursing involves handling many lowly ‘down-to-earth’ tasks. But the expectations of others can also be very high and hard to handle. During the festive season there is extra pressure to present an upbeat image of generosity with a ‘cheesy smile’ and an extra measure of goodwill. Whether we feel like it or not, Christmas is the time to be bright and bubbly, with higher levels of cheer and beer, gloss and glitter and everything fun and fanciful.

There are also expectations for families to rise to new heights of togetherness and tenderness. It’s the season of giving, with great expectations for shiny new toys and trinkets. There are great expectations placed on us at Christmas. The greater expectations are often those we place on ourselves. Expectation levels can be raised to glorious heights as we look up from the dazzling Christmas lights to the angels in the sky. Our vision of Christmas can become grandiose, but how genuine are these expectations? How close are these expectations to what Christmas really is?

Let’s get real! At Christmas time people get extra busy, with extra stress; and along with this comes extra snappiness. The cheer and beer is often accompanied with fighting and spitting. Any existing tension within families is in danger of being ‘fanned into flame’. Little kids and big kids fight over what gifts they should’ve or could’ve gotten but didn’t. The shiny toys may not function as they were meant to, or may no longer be in one piece the next day. Some people feel like they just can’t put themselves through this another year, and they give up altogether. There are many lonely people at Christmas time. Is it any wonder that with such high expectations that are so far from reality, the suicide rate also climbs to new heights at Christmas time?

This may be the harsh reality, but it begs the question, ‘Is there more to Christmas than trying to meet expectations and failing?’ Thankfully, the true meaning of Christmas is not about us rising to a higher level to meet expectations. Christmas is all about God coming down lower, all the way to ‘the turf of the earth’ where he was born in a stinky stable and died on an ‘old rugged cross’. God meets with us here where we are, as we are, even ‘in the midst of the mess’. Immanuel ̶̶ God with us ̶̶ is the message of Christmas (Matthew 1:23). High, ‘pie-in-the-sky’, expectations of Christmas need to be redirected toward the ‘turf of the earth’. Jesus lived the perfect life on earth that we could not, and he died on a cruel instrument of execution called a cross to pay the price for us to live. God raised Jesus from the dead, and he now lives and rules eternally.

The true ‘higher life’ is found in Jesus’ lowly life. There is a saying that a person may be so heavenly minded that they are of no earthly good. The greatest ‘earthly good’ is from Jesus who came down from heaven. So, don’t raise your expectations too high this Christmas, but look lower into the manger and then from the manger to the cross!

May God bless you with a truly ‘down-to-earth’. Christmas!

Pastor Chris Gallasch, Chaplain

Lutheran Homes, Hope Valley, South Australia