Card-making is a hobby of mine. I love everything about it - the pretty paper, the stamps, the metal dies that cut out shapes, the embossing folders, the ribbons, the embellishments, the markers, the adhesives, the many different colours of card stock etc. I tend to go and fits and starts, sometimes focussing on birthday or thank you cards, and sometimes focussing on seasonal cards. And of course, being November I'm currently working on Christmas cards.
Someone made an observation the other day when I had shared a number of my current card creations with them. They said, "The cards are really pretty for people that don't know the Christmas story." What a great observation...and one that bears consideration. I began thinking a lot about that comment because, yes, not one of the cards connected to the Christmas story, the birth of Jesus, and that story is very important to me.
I didn't see any disconnect between the cards I was creating, and my personal experience and understanding the son of God coming to earth as a baby on behalf of all mankind, the story that is described in Luke chapter 2. For me there really hadn't been a disconnect, so I wondered why.
The answer came to me slowly - the colours, the paper, even the expressions 'Holly Jolly', indicate joy. And for me, the birth of the Saviour is joy-infused event.The birth of Christ may not be clearly articulated in the cards I'm currently creating: however, the feeling of joy, indescribable joy, is inherent in each card I create. That is the connection for me.
So the cards I make might not have a manger on them, but they are full of the joy of the season, the idea that "The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us."(John 1:14)
I think that God must have enjoyed creating the world and in my small human way I enjoy creating with paper. The joy is the same.
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