The Most Wonderful Time

I love Christmas. I love the holiday season, I love what it represents, and I love the fact that everywhere I look I am reminded of the Christmas season. I love to see the illuminated stars and Nativity’s that I see in people’s yards and on buildings. Even when I see retailers using simply snowflakes, snowmen or candy canes, or when I hear people try to avoid the word “Christmas”, I am reminded of what this holiday is all about, the greatest gift we have ever been given, a gift we truly didn’t deserve. We are at a point where it is so difficult to separate out the secular seasonal decorations from the decorations with religious meanings. For me, and I hope for you, all of these decorations point to the reason we celebrate, and remind us of the great gift we have been given, which leads us to giving gifts to loved ones out of joy and celebration for what we have received.

When I was little, I remember I used to rush downstairs and be all ready to open presents on Christmas morning. Yet now that I am grown, one of my favorite parts of Christmas is the giving of gifts. Watching someone open a gift that was carefully selected for them, and waiting for their reaction is truly a priceless memory that cannot be replicated.

Isn’t it interesting how as we grow up, our mindset changes from the joy of opening a present, to the joy of watching people open presents? I think that the joy of giving is something that matures in us as we grow older, and it reminds me of the great joy God must have felt in sending his Son to us on that first Christmas day.

During the Christmas season, amidst all of these decorations and lights, I am reminded of what God did for us. God was the giver of the greatest gift ever, and as He was preparing to send Christ, I can just imagine God anticipating our reaction to the greatest gift we have been given, the greatest gift we will ever receive: the gift of His Son. This was a gift that was carefully selected, and was just right for our situation. It was a gift that fulfills needs we didn’t even know we had.

I hope you truly realize and have received this wonderful gift. It is the only way we can truly know peace, hope, joy and love: through our Lord Jesus Christ, whose birth we celebrate this month.

In Him,

Pastor Jon