Monday, December 21, 2009

A reason to celebrate.


With only a few days left till Christmas morning springs itself upon us with all the giggles, excitement and love; many may be trying to figure out how to get the enormous lists of toys the children are wanting. Isn’t it funny how when I was a kid we asked for one toy maybe two, for me usually a Barbie Doll and that was all. Today however the lists have almost become novels, like a recent Christmas movie that portrayed a child on Santa’s lap going on and on about what he wanted, even Santa was like are you done yet!


A friend of mine was sharing her heart at one of our women’s fellowships. Her family was a military family for many years so at Christmas they were always blessed with gifts for the kids, about 5 or 6 different toys and games each. Today her husband is no longer an active military service man so they are not getting the support they had when moving from base to base. However the children’s Christmas list is even longer today and the toys are now much more expensive with electronic gadgets and all. She was concerned about making the children happy like any mom would want for her kids, however they do not have the money to provide the same kind of Christmas the children had grown accustomed to in the past.

You see so many of us today are caught in the same situation as my friend, not enough money to fill the want list from our kids and families. The answer is really simple if we are willing to step back and celebrate Christmas for what it is meant to be, a celebration of the birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!

What if we changed our perspective and focused on the true meaning of this holiday? Nothing wrong with giving gifts, God gave us Jesus! The problem comes when we loose our focus on the true meaning of Christmas and turn it into primarily an overspending shopping spree to make people happy, for the moment. Then we try to figure out how to pay off all we have charged, causing stress and depression. What if we scaled back the worldly side of Christmas and enlarged our faith filled side?

During the challenges today in our economy with all the job and home losses we can still celebrate and rejoice this week. We can celebrate the amazing gift that our Father in heaven has given us, the gift of eternal life through His Son Jesus Christ. He knows where you are today and He knows your needs, maybe it is time to surrender ALL to Him to find room in your hearts to celebrate the gift God has given us.

We all have a reason to celebrate this amazing Christmas season, the birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!



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