I am writing from Florida and so thankful to be here. Our annual Christmas vaycay with extended family is such a treat, a blessing really. This is our Christmas gift to eachother and the kids. No gifts because there is no point. Why are we buying gifts anyway? When Jesus was born everyone wasn't giving gifts to eachother, they were giving gifts to Christ....lol...so why are we giving gifts to one another anyway? We don't "do" Santa, never have. Santa has absolutely nothing to do with Jesus' birth, God coming to the world as man...I am pretty sure he was not dressed up in a red suit or arriving with reindeers....right? So, if we take christ our of Christmas then what on earth on we celebrating? A day in the year? To do what exactly? Buy hoards of gifts for one another while lying to the kids about some fat guy dressed in a red suit...who only gives gifts based on my performance, naughty or nice? What hope is there in that? I would fail everyday! But really it is not Santa versus Jesus at all, I say this all of the above because for me to live intentionally and purposefully I have to know why I am doing what I am doing. Be able to explain my actions and motivations......to my kids especially...when those why questions come, then I have to have an answer. (or teach them how to seek out an answer) How can I tell them which way to walk if I don't know why I am doing what I am doing or where we are going if I have no clue???
Christmas is simple in our home....well, if we were there.:) We celebrate Christ's birth and God's love for His people....."For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only son and whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life". John 3:16
Jesus comes into relationship with us because He loves us. To live with us because He loves us. To hurt and heal and laugh and cry with us because He loves us. And also do die for us because He loves us. That is what Christmas is about. Is that not the greatest gift you could ever receive? I became a Christian just after Christmas 12 years ago and my life was changed and transformed like nothing I've ever experienced. From hopeless to hope, from death to life from darkness to light, from lost to found......what a gift!!!......and I didn't have to be anything to receive it, naughty or nice (I was both)......I just believed in who Jesus said He was and picked myself up and followed Him and I have never looked back.
One of the first verses that stuck a cord in my heart was this one, "I am the way the truth and the life and no one comes to the father but by me". Jesus I think the best way that I can describe how I felt back then was this....."I was lost and now I am found".
All my hope is in Christ and that is what I point my kids to everyday, 365 days a year and we celebrate Jesus birthday one day each year....(the girls are hoping for cake and ice cream here I think).
Happy Birthday!
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