So, here we are again at the start of the Christmas season. My halls are completely decked and my shopping has started. I look forward to the coming days that will be spent with family and friends. i wonder what the world might look like during Decembers if our Savior had not come. Of course there wouldn't be the festive trimmings that brighten up our homes inside and out. There wouldn't be the beautifully wrapped packages that sit under our sometimes "overly ornate" Christmas trees. There wouldn't be the Christmas dinner that serves up usually a beautiful ham or roasted turkey. No egg nog, no candy canes no chestnuts roasting on that open fire. All of these things are truly wonderful and they bring us the sense of warmth, home and family during the season but they are not the things that would even be thought of if the Christ child were never born. I can imagine the days of December to just be cold and empty as we would sit around and wait on Spring and flowers to bloom again. The meaning of winter " blues" or "cabin fever" would be the norm for most people. It would feel cold, empty and meaningless without our God given gift of that little baby boy! The hope, the light of the world, the Savior of us all was born that night in a cold, primitive and probably smelly animal stable. He was sort of like that homeless person on the street in the cold of winter who had no place to lay his head. He wasnt born in a warm, comfortable home or hospital and the smell of cinnamon or pumpkin pie didn't waft in the air. The fireplace was not crackling with a toasty fire and there were no stockings hung for treats and packages. It was another winters night just like any other but. . . . Was it? I think not! I think it was the night that "changed the world"! It was the night that our hope came into being. It was the night that started all of the wondrous celebration that we have today! It was that night that gave us silver and gold and tinsel and lights and bags and bows. It was that night that gave us the greatest gift that we could ever have received. You see, we mustn't get caught up in the sparkle and glow of Christmas because of what the world has spun for us. We must get caught up in the hope that was born into this world on that very special night. So, as we give our gifts this Christmas and as we gather around the fireplace with family and friends and as we sing our songs of the season, let's celebrate the bundled package of hope that we all sometimes forget about in the midst of our celebrating. Merry Christmas, not "happy holiday"! May the gift of Hope remain in our hearts as the best gift that we have ever received! And, may the sparkle and shine of the season remind us of how very dull and hopeless our lives would be without him. Merry Christmas.
Insight Insert: Take time this holiday week and all throughout the season to bless someone that you may never have blessed before. Take time to pick up the phone and call someone you know is alone for the holiday and take them out for coffee and a pastry.when you're in the drive-thru picking up a quick coffee, pay for the persons order that's in line behind you. In short, don't get so caught up in your own routine of shopping and wrapping that you forget about unselfishly sharing the love for others as that baby ultimately did! Be Jesus to someone you've never met. That's Christmas!
Scripture: Philippians 2:3,4. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others. NIV
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