Advent Love and Christmas Cookies
I am all about holiday baking. There are few things I love more than standing in our kitchen, my apron covered in flour and sugar and sprinkles, watching delicious treats rise in the oven. An absolute delight about this season of life has been bringing my daughter into all the fun.
She climbs up in her kitchen tower and not-so-gracefully uses the measuring cups and spoons and cracks the eggs and mixes all the ingredients together. Most of the time she stands there asking when she can have a taste of whatever we’re making.
While some of the Christmas cookies we make are ready to enjoy the moment they have cooled down, others require more attention. There is icing to add, decorations to attempt, candies to place. The end result is a magical masterpiece.
These kinds of cookies are helping to instill patience in my young daughter’s heart. She is just starting to accept that we can’t just eat batter. That the patience we practice is worth the effort. So she stares into our oven and waits, asking again and again if they are ready. Pure joy explodes from her when the timer goes off. Waiting the extra 10ish minutes for the cookies to cool down may be the most grueling trial she has to overcome.
But now we’ve added an additional waiting period. Not only does she have to wait for the cookies to cool, we are now spending precious eating time decorating these cookies. Why would we do this?
While I always save a few for us to enjoy at home, most of the Christmas cookies we make are not for us. They are for friends. They are for neighbors. They are for others.
When she asked why (as in, why would we go through all of this trouble only to give these yummy treats to someone else), the answer I gave was simply “Because it’s a way to show our love and God’s love to others.”
As we mentioned yesterday, the love of God was delivered to the world in the person of Jesus Christ. His birth was the answer to promises made long ago and the first look at God’s glorious rescue plan for his people. Jesus Christ was sent to the world as our Savior because of God’s love for us (John 3:16).
But as we also mentioned yesterday, the love of God did not stop at the manger. We witness it in the life and teachings of Jesus’ earthly ministry, but we see the ultimate display of it on the cross. God incarnate willingly walked towards the cross, knowing the punishment, pain, and death he was was about to suffer, because he loves his children.
Our salvation was purchased at the cross. This incredible sacrifice ransomed our lives, not because we deserved salvation, but because our holy and perfect God loved his rebellious people.
And because he has loved us with this unmerited, undeserved, perfect, sacrificial love, we can love others.
“Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.” 1 John 4:7-11
My prayer is that every holiday tradition we hold can point my daughter (and myself) back to our heavenly Father. That the Christmas tree we brought into our home can be a beautiful reminder of the tree at Calvary our Savior gave his life on. That Christmas lights are not just fun to look at, but can help us remember Jesus is the light of the world (more on that later this week). And yes, that even Christmas cookies can remind us to share the love of God with others around us.
There is time that goes into crafting these cookies. We take seemingly ordinary ingredients and turn them into something beautiful. And then we give them away, knowing that they will (hopefully) bring joy to the ones who receive them.
It is hard not to see God reflected in such a simple act. He took the ordinary circumstances that surrounded Bethlehem that night and turned them into something absolutely extraordinary. He brought his Son into the world only to give him away at the cross. Jesus bore this death for us for the joy set before him, keeping his sights set on the unbelievable reality of eternity. To those who receive him, this gift is our ultimate satisfaction, our deepest joy, and our greatest treasure.
Traditions like Christmas cookies, lights, and gift exchanges become even more beloved when we see Christ in them. The love given to the world in the manger is easily found during this season, if only we look. But remember, this love does not stop at the manger. We are called to carry it to this broken world in every season and in every moment. Let us proclaim the glorious news of our Savior!
