I put up Christmas lights yesterday. For someone who doesn’t like to climb ladders, this is a daunting task. In Atlanta, we had a neighbor who held nothing back when it came to putting up Christmas lights. Every year on the day after Thanksgiving, he would begin a two-day project of putting up lights, inflatable characters, and whatever else he could get his hands on. Any display that anyone else put up paled in comparison. The neighbors would gather out in the street, shaking our heads and lamenting that we just didn’t have enough lights when compared to the Clark Griswold of the neighborhood.

This time leading up to Christmas is a time when many of us feel like we are not enough. Our inadequacies in what we don’t already own are suggested through each Black Friday advertisement. “You must get here at 6 am to get this deal. You can’t live without it.” We are led to believe that we need more to be enough. We feel the need for everything to be spotless and eloquently decorated for holiday house guests. We are led to believe that perfection leads us to be enough. The mail overflows with perfect family holiday cards, touting how good everyone looks and how well their grown children are doing. Inevitably, we wonder why our family is not as perfect and we feel like we aren’t enough. A struggle for me is the feeling of inadequacy comes from not leading a congregation through the Advent season for the first time in a long time. Will I be enough without this leadership role in this holy season?

Here’s the thing; Christmas is God’s way of saying to each and every one of us that we are enough. If a baby born in a humble manner is enough to bring light to the whole world, then surely it is enough to remind you and I that we are enough. The trick to really getting Christmas is to remember this great truth in the face of everything that would tell us different. We need nothing else to be enough in God’s eyes. No lights, no material goods, no perfect Christmas card, nothing changes the way that God sees us.

One of my favorite quotes for this time of year is from the late Peter Gomes, who reminds us, “For those of us who believe that the greatest gift is the gift of love, Christmas is the ultimate and most intimate expression there is. The child in the manger is the means whereby God’s love is presented to the people whom God loves”

I need that reminder. We are the people whom God loves. You are enough.