Merry Christmas
- AfraOpoku
- December 21, 2025
- Uncategorized
- 0 Comments
I just put up my Christmas décor.
I know. I’m probably a month late.
The Christmas décor folks I know are up and running at the beginning of November.
My approach to putting up Christmas lights is more along the lines of — put them up late and take them down late.
I’ve been known to have garlands up in march (don’t judge!).
This year, my plan was to do an end of year deep clean, and then put up the décor.
My hope was for a perfect backdrop to my Christmas decorations.
The frustrating part is, a week after the house was rendered close to spotless, it had turned messy again.
Giving up on my quest for perfection, I did a couple of touch ups and finally put up the Christmas stuff that had been buried for close to a year.
That’s the thing about life on this planet.
Somethings are meant to be repeated.
I wish one good clean could translate into clean forever. It doesn’t…for most people.
In spite of that knowledge – like a lot of people I know- I like to move when life is flawless.
When I’m happy, I’m a better writer… or so I think.
When I’m relaxed, I’m a good friend.
When I’m problem free, I can help with other people’s problems.
Fanciful? Sure.
Realistic? Absolutely not!
Happiness is often fleeting. Relaxation is season dependent; and a problem-free existence is only found in cemeteries.
Even God doesn’t wait for perfection to move.
If He did, He would have altered a few things in the Christmas story.
For example, how do you give the world a Saviour via an unwed mother?1
Surely, God could have airbrushed some respectability into the situation by having Mary be Joseph’s wife – right?
That theory falls apart because a married Mary would mean no virgin birth, and Christ couldn’t be conceived with the nature of sinful man.2
Okay – how about the trip to Bethlehem?
Maybe Mary could have gone to Bethlehem without being pregnant.3
No woman has ever loved travelling in her third trimester and certainly not on a donkey for days.
With all the comforts of modern-day travel, most airlines will not board a woman merely days from delivery.
In reality, if Mary had travelled earlier, there would have been better accommodation for the baby Jesus.4
Better accommodation would mean the Lamb would not have been born with the lambs.
The manger wasn’t just a prop in the greatest story ever told. It was a message to generations confirming the arrival of the Lamb of God.
To the naïve, the humble beginnings of Jesus look almost chaotic, but if you pan back, everything worked out to a tee.
The first group granted access to Jesus were the commoners5 and that sparks hope for all who question their ability to access royalty.
Turns out God knew exactly what He was doing.
He who could have made the first Christmas perfect chose not to.
The Almighty crafts masterpieces with strokes that appear incoherent.
My need for perfection aside, I love this particular lesson of Christmas.
I don’t have to wait for things to be just so.
My prayers, offerings and works don’t have to meet an impossible standard and I certainly don’t have to have it all together for God to move.
Amidst the embarrassment, inconvenience and stench associated with the birth of Christ, came one of the most beautiful stories in all of scripture. A story that remains universally celebrated.
That’s good news when your house gets messy and your faith gets wobbly.
Christ is the spotless one and His perfection is what we all get to hang on to.
Merry perfect Christmas.
1 – Matthew 2 v 18
2- 2Cor 5 v 21
3 – Luke 2 v 4-5
4 – Luke 2 v 7
5 – Luke 2 v 16 – 18