It is as a mother once wrote:

Each December I vow to make Christmas a calm and peaceful experience.  I cut back on non-essential obligations — extensive card writing, endless baking, decorating, and even over-spending.  Yet still one Christmas I found myself exhausted, unable to appreciate the precious family moments and, of course, the true meaning of Christmas.

My son, Nicholas, was in kindergarten that year.  It was an exciting season for a 6 year old.  For weeks he had been memorizing songs for the school’s “winter pageant”.  I didn’t have the heart to tell him I’d be working the night of the production.  Unwilling to miss his shining moment, I spoke with his teacher.  She assured me that there would be a dress rehearsal on the morning of the presentation.  All parents unable to attend that evening were welcome to come then.  Fortunately, Nicholas seemed happy with the compromise. 

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So the morning of the dress rehearsal, I filed in 10 minutes early, found a spot on the cafeteria floor and sat down.  Around the room I saw several other parents quietly scampering to their seats.  As I waited the students were led into the room.  Each class accompanied by their teacher sat cross-legged on the floor.  Then each group, one by one, rose to perform their song.

Because the public school system had long stopped referring to the holiday as “Christmas,” I didn’t expect anything other than fun, commercial entertainment, songs of reindeers, Santa Claus, snowflakes and good cheer.  So when my son’s class rose to sing a song entitled “Christmas Love,” I was slightly taken aback by its bold title.

Nicholas was aglow, as were all of his classmates, adorned in fuzzy mittens, red sweaters and bright snowcaps upon their heads.  Those in the front row held up large letters, one by one, to spell out the title of the song.  As the class would sing, “C is for Christmas”, a child would hold up the letter C.  Then “H is for Happy” and on and on until each child holding up his letter had presented the complete message “Christmas Love”.

The performance was going smoothly until suddenly we noticed her:  a small quiet little girl in the front row holding the letter M in Christmas upside down, totally unaware that her letter M appeared as a W.  The audience of 1st through 6th graders seated in the cafeteria giggled at this little girl’s mistake, but she had no idea they were laughing at her, so she stood tall proudly holding her W.

Although many teachers tried to shush the children, the laughter continued until the last letter was raised and we all saw it together.  A hush came over the audience and eyes began to widen.  At that instant we understood the reason we were there, why we celebrated the holiday in the first place, why even in the chaos there was a purpose for our festivities…and for our lives.

For when the last letter was held high, the message read loud and clear:  “CHRISTWAS LOVE”.  And I believe He still is.

And so do I!  Amid my struggles, doubts, questions and whys, I still believe that God makes all the arrangements. Amid the pain and imperfection of an imperfect world, Jesus still comes at the right time in the right way to do the right thing. That first Christmas God made all the arrangements.  He still makes all the arrangements today.  So let Him make the arrangements in your life and you’ll find out that His love never fails!

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Mike Coppersmith is Pastor of Our Savior’s Community in Palm Springs, CA.