Here comes Christmas!
Are you ready?
Let’s see what must be done…
• Figure out what gifts to buy people
• Go shopping
• Buy the gift wrap
• Wrap the gifts
• Buy Christmas cards
• Buy postage stamps
• Write out and send the cards
• Put up the tree and decorate the inside of our homes
• Put up the Christmas lights (how did they get so tangled…again?!)
• Bake cakes, cookies, and other treats to give away
• Call folks we haven’t talked to in a while
• Watch our favorite Christmas specials (Really? “It’s a wonderful life” for the fiftieth time?)
• Go to all the Christmas gatherings
• Thirty-two other things that you realize too late that you have forgotten to do
So, gear up folks! Find that long-lost energy (maybe it is in the closet?). The push is on! The days are flying by! And by all means, don’t look at the calendar, unless you want to experience that oh-so-uncomfortable feeling of panic!
Isn’t it curious that the “most wonderful time of the year” is often the one that causes us to groan when we size up all that we must do?
Yet, even with all the activity that surrounds the Christmas season, it still is the most wonderful time of the year. People seem friendlier. Folks have a little spring in their step. And there is nothing like this season to get our generosity-juices going, or to feel the love that accompanies our receiving a thoughtful gift.
But none of this is truly the reason why it is the most wonderful time of the year, is it? Because the reason is not found in a store, card, gift or gathering, or even in our elevated moods.
It is found in the announcement…
“And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with great fear. And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.” And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying,
“Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!”
(Luke 2:8-14 ESV)
So, this Christmas season, during all the flurry, let’s make sure we set aside lots of time to meditate on Christ the Lord, and tell others about Him. For He is the reason why Christmas is the most wonderful time of the year. And if we are not careful, we will focus more on what we must do, rather than on what God has done for us.
In His love,
Pastor Rob