Tonight, Ryan and I tucked the kids in together. He read How the Grinch Stole Christmas, as the kids snuggled up to him by the light of the tiny tree in my daughter’s bedroom. It was a little bit idyllic, and I did my best to capture the Kodak moment via Instagram filter.

As I sat there with my kids, in that cozy, peaceful moment, I couldn’t help but think of the Ginch-y things I did today. In no particular order: I whined, I complained, I snapped, I yelled. And inside my heart, I was unkind, rude, greedy, jealous, and prideful. There were moments when I let the real meaning of Christmas be dwarfed by my own preparations for it.

Throughout this season, every single day, it’s been the same. I’ve failed. As a mother, a wife, a friend, an employee, a daughter, a sister, a church member, a neighbor. I’ve missed out on opportunities to show love. I’ve taken opportunities to indulge temptation. I’ve thought, said, and done hurtful things. I’ve lost my cool. I’ve given up hope. I’ve placed my heart on all the things of this world, instead of heavenly things. I’ve failed miserably.

We all have. Inside, we’ve all got a Grinch, although the Bible calls it our old man.

Perhaps this is why Dr. Suess’s classic Christmas tale is a perennial favorite; it holds a kernel of truth. We see ourselves in the Grinch, don’t we? As much as we prefer to be the Whos down in Whoville, we more closely relate to the main character, the Grinch himself. It’s in us. By nature, our hearts are “two sizes too small.”

“For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23).

But you know what’s amazing? No matter how Grinch-y we are or have ever been, us and the millions before us, not a one of us could stop Christmas from coming.

“He HADN’T stopped Christmas from coming! IT CAME! 

Somehow or other, it came just the same!” -Dr. Suess

Praise be to God! There is nothing we can do to stop Christmas from coming. It will come, it has come, despite all of us and everything we have ever done. Jesus was born and laid in that manger thousands of years ago, a Savior who saved us with his life and changed our hearts with his love.

“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). 

No one can take this away from us: not our own Grinch-y selves, not anyone else on earth, not even the devil, “the old liar.”

And what is more, Christmas comes every year whether we are ready or not, whether we have plenty or are in want, whether we are healthy or dying, young or old, rejoicing or struggling. Christmas comes when the tree isn’t decorated right or the kids aren’t behaving or you’re out of your mind tired or you are depressed or anxious. And despite what we forget sometimes:

“It came without ribbons! It came without tags! It came without packages, boxes, or bags!”

It simply doesn’t matter if we’re ready or not, whether we’ve been Grinchy or not, Christmas will come and has come. This gospel is what causes our hearts to grow, to turn us from our Grinchy ways to the happy little monster whizzing through the morning light, down and away from our greed and selfishness, hate and pride…toward the world around us, spreading light and love and the good news that Christmas…IT CAME!

It came just the same.