Christmas should be a time of peace and tranquility, joy, and love. It should be a time of year looked forward to by young and old alike; a time that should last forever.Each year, we, as civilized people, rush, push, and hawk the Christmas Season until we begin to wish we could just skip the whole thing and go right to the New Year. We have commercialized and exploited Christmas to the point that, instead of anticipating the coming of Christmas with joy and gladness, we dread the time. That is not the way it was planned IN THE BEGINNING.
The First Christmas had gifts too, but far more important then anyone could possibility give today. GOLD, FRANKINCENSE and MYRRH; gifts to a child; gifts to a Savior! Jesus, born in a manger would grow up to be the man who -- told stormy waters to be still; who told us that He was the WAY, the TRUTH, and the LIFE; that if we believed in Him, we would gain ETERNAL LIFE. He didn't come into our world to RULE, but to SERVE. He came in as a CHILD, not a MAN. He was not born at a local HOSPITAL, but in a MANGER. This SEED of LIGHT, was planted in our world as a gift of LOVE. Many, down through history, have attempted to snuff the light out, only to meet face-to-face with God's love. His birth in a MANAGER and His DEATH on the CROSS began as it started; in a small country...where most would consider it to be THIRD WORLD. Without Christ at the CENTER of CHRISTMAS there would be no reason for EASTER. His birth is our ETERNAL REMINDER of LOVE; that He will never walked away from His CREATION even thou they walked away from Him.
So, when you rush around to try to find that last minute gift...remember; it wasn't planned that way IN THE BEGINNING. The GIFT of LOVE, for whatever we do during this season must have Christ at the CENTER.
