Advent IV: Misspellings

It’s has always been an annual source of embarrassment. Made in third grade, I thought it was something special. I couldn’t wait to give it to my parents for Christmas and remember squirming in my seat as they opened it years ago. My mother lifted it from the wrapped box and held it up for my father and siblings to see. I was proud, until I hear the first snicker. “You spelt Christmas wrong!” someone pointed out. My face turned red, my pride withered, and I wanted to crawl from the room.

The cracker holder now belongs to me. Each year I bring it out and remember not that moment of embarrassment and shame so much as the way my mother displayed it proudly every year. She unpacked it from the Christmas decoration boxes with reverence, as if it was a sacred relic. In her hands, the imperfect cracker holder looked wonderful. “Don’t you dare!” she said loud and clear when I suggested correcting the misspelling. She didn’t just not mind the misspelling, she cherished it. “It’s what makes it you,” she reminded me often. “I wouldn’t want it any other way.” 

The imperfect cracker holder has become special to me, too. Rather than being a reminder of my poor spelling ability, it reminds me of a parent’s love despite my imperfection. She didn’t ignore the imperfection, she embraced it. The misspelling is what made it unique, personal, genuine. No wonder she lifted it from the box the way she did each year.

I think God’s the same way. Despite our best efforts to conceal them, we are full of imperfections. God does not ignore them or look the other direction. He lifts and holds each of us like a sacred relic, smiling as only a parent can at the things that make us unique. In God’s hands, all our imperfections and things we’re embarrassed by look wonderful. I think, deep down, that’s why a child was born years ago. That’s why God didn’t wait until we got our acts together before taking his seat beside us in this thing called life. Despite our best (and continuous) efforts to hide or correct our imperfections, Christmas is a time to celebrate God coming among us and loving us the way we are.