A Christmas Message for 2025

Greetings, 

I hope this holiday season has been rewarding to you and that you are all ready to enjoy Christmas tomorrow. Christmas has always been one of my favorite times of the year. As a child, I loved the idea of presents, not because it meant that I would be receiving the things, but because it was the one time of year; I really felt seen.

Like many families, we struggled. With three siblings, a lot of drama, and many other things I don't particularly feel the need to elaborate on in this holiday post, the feeling of being known and loved by my parents was a rare occurrence. Not because they ignored me, but rather, because of everything else that was going on. 

As I grew older, the joy I found at Christmas continued to be rooted in that belief. When I served in the church, it was because I wanted to be known by others. When I volunteered for the Christmas musical, it was the same thing. Even as an adult working in the Salvation Army, I told myself,

"I'm serving because I want to honor the season and do what I was called to do,"

Despite that, the root of the things I told myself was that I had an underlying desire to be known by those around me. 

One year, my mother introduced me to a book by Max Lucado. It is called Cosmic Christmas. One chapter in my Christmas devotional, Reflecting Christmas: Reimagined, focuses on this book, and also the reason it matters so much to me.

In truth, while the chapter is called The Christmas Angel, and shows up later in the book, it was the first one I actually wrote. I chose not to include it in the original publication because it was a difficult chapter for me to share due to the timing of my mother's passing, less than a month after Christmas 2008. 

I digress, though. This post is not about my Christmas Devotional; it is about why Cosmic Christmas will always be my favorite Christmas book.

The story Lucado penned in 1997 was a version of The Christmas Story that I had never even considered when I read it for the first time in 2007. Yes... I did not discover this story until 10 years after it was released. That just goes to show the value of Story only grows with time. The difference between this story and every other story I have ever read about Christmas is that it tells the story from a heavenly perspective. It is the journey that Gabriel and his angels endured the night Jesus was born. He shares why he wrote it in the book, but it's also published here.

While I am sure that there are other books out there from that perspective, I've only ever read this one. If you have suggestions, ‌share them in the comments below because this perspective fascinated me. It was the story I'd grown up learning about in church, but it told me a story, while fictional in many places, about the angels working behind the scenes to ensure that a bigger story was told.

From the beginning, it showed me that being seen didn't actually matter as much as I thought it did. The struggle Lucado conveyed throughout this short little book taught me that even in the darkest moments of my life, I would always be seen by the one who is able, the king of kings, and the God who sent his son to save the world from the clutches of the betrayer. The elements of the story are truly cosmic, and the message to me was clear. 

What matters is the gift, not the recognition. This gift doesn't have to be the most extravagant thing in the world; it only needs to be offered wholeheartedly. As Gabriel tells the story of his journey throughout Lucado's Cosmic Christmas, one thing that still stands out to me is the determination he held onto. Beyond everything else that happens in this story, that never falters. His dedication to the cause mattered, and I was part of that cause. We all are!

May we all remember this holiday season that we are seen and valued by the King of Kings. What matters is the motivation of the heart, to tie back into this post about a new version of The Little Drummer Boy being my favorite song this year. Regardless of what I felt as a child and the motivations behind my reasons for the season growing up, I am known. All of us are!

See you in the pages,

M.J.E.

PS (If you are curious about my Christmas Devotional, Reflecting Christmas: Reimagined, it will be free starting Christmas morning for 5 days. I will let you know in advance that I intend to release a 3rd edition in 2026 that will update the content. This is a special eBook because my now 13-year-old daughter helped me write it when she was 6.)