“She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.” (Matthew 1:21 NIV)

We had just finished trimming the goats’ hooves and removing burrs from their coats, when I noticed my horse Frank had a large burr in his tail. As I took the shears to cut it free, I realized that it wasn’t just one burr, his whole tail was a solid mass of them. Separating the burrs from the tail hair was no longer a possibility. Instead, his lovely long tail, now almost obliterated by the burrs, had to be bobbed to an eighteen inch one.

A burr is a seed or dry fruit that has hooks or teeth. Their main function is to spread the seeds of the plant to various locations where they take root and produce a new plant crop.

This episode with Frank brought to mind the Christmas season and the many burrs that can stick to us amidst it. Burrs that can get so entangled within our thinking and planning, that the true meaning of Christmas can barely be recognized anymore. When I speak of Christmas and burrs, I’m talking about everything that surrounds Christmas but is not about the true message of Christmas: greeting cards, baking, gift giving, Santa Claus, elves, gnomes, entertaining friends, Christmas trees, lights and decorations, Christmas movies, Christmas clothes, Christmas knick knacks. I am not saying that such things are wrong or even bad, but they are all things which, if we allow them to, can get out of hand and totally become the main theme of our celebration. They become our seasonal traditions. We often feel that it isn’t Christmas without them, which in turn causes us to lose the true focus of what Christmas is all about:

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16 NIV)

“Jesus, the very Son of God: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death—even death on a cross!” (Philippians 2:6-8 NIV)

Jesus, Emmanuel, God with us, the very reason why we even have Christmas. So, this Christmas season, let us each seek to be mindful of any past or present Christmas burrs. Traditions, that though they may be good, are also ones which are diverting our focus from the true meaning of the season: Jesus.

Prayer: Father God, thank You so much for Jesus, the true message of Christmas. May He be kept front and center in the lives of all of Your children this Christmas. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.

Lynne Phipps
Tawatinaw, Alberta, Canada