Christmas Cards and Open Hearts

Christmas Cards and Open Hearts

My recently married cousin called the other day to ask if she needed to start sending Christmas cards now that she was officially an adult.  She liked receiving cards but wasn’t sure that she was ready to get on board with a tradition that had to be continued year after year.

Having sent family Christmas cards for the past nine Christmases since my son was born in 2012, I understood her hesitation.  While I enjoy the tradition of both sending and receiving cards, the stress of getting a good family photo, updating my address list, getting to the post office, and praying that the cards are delivered on time can easily add more pressure to an already very hectic season. It’s hard to believe that the custom of sending Christmas cards began to make the mail system more appealing to the common folk.

In 1843, Sir Henry Cole, a government employee in the United Kingdom, had recently helped set up the ‘public record office’ (now known simply as the post office).  With the introduction of the ‘penny post,’ senders were able to send a letter or card anywhere in the country with just a penny stamp.  Cole wanted more ordinary people to experience the now affordable method of sending mail, and so he had an artist friend design and print the first ever mass-produced Christmas greeting. The early Christmas cards existed as a symbol that postal service was now accessible and available.

Accessible and available to all, especially the common folk.  Sound familiar?  God allowed His son to be born in the humblest of circumstances, finding a dirty stable full of animals to welcome His Son into the world, and then announced the birth of His son to a group of ordinary, average shepherds in a field.  To this day, Jesus still looks for humble hearts that will acknowledge their need of forgiveness and receive Him (Ephesians 3:16).  

And this is what I am thinking of each Christmas season as I make time to send my cards and to pray for every heart that receives them.  Let all of those hearts prepare Him room.