As I told you last week I am up to my eyeballs in flour, sugar, butter and creeping fingers. Yep, creeping fingers. The kind that always makes their way across the kitchen to the cooling racks of cookies and shamelessly runs off with the fruits of my labor like a hungry dog stealing a warm pot roast off the dining room table. Not that it bothers me that much. I guess the alternative is for your family and friends to avoid your plates of treats as if it was Aunt Susie's five hundred year old fruitcake that gets passed around every year. As I take a quick break from this annual labor of love, I want to encourage you to also slow down enough to absorb the true Gift of the season. In our modern often insane and demanding world, it's hard enough to hear ourselves think let alone take some time for reflection. Especially at Christmas time with all the parties, school events, shopping and shipping, endless running around and cooking. It's no wonder that many people can't wait for the holiday season to be over with. That in itself is a sad statement. It shouldn't be that way. We have transitioned over the generations to a physical serving instead of a spiritual nurturing lifestyle. Most of our collective efforts too often seem to go towards the agendas, desires and temporal whims of either ourselves, bosses, children or other obligations. I am not condemning the effort or even the passion behind it as we all have daily tasks and service we must complete. Rather, I am talking about the need to slow down, sit down, pause and reflect.
It's been over two thousand years since that bright star shone in the sky over a small child born in a lowly manger to humble parents in the small town of Bethlehem. The King of Kings was born to us! The one true and everlasting Gift! Given to us by a loving Father who loved us so much He gave up his only begotten Son for us. We didn't qualify for this precious gift nor did we rightly deserve it either. God gave His Son for us simply because He loves us. How often have any of us just gone out and gave of ourselves to someone so completely without being asked or coerced to do so? Now I am not talking about placing ourselves into the same implicate circumstance as our Heavenly Father. But rather I'm talking about a mindset. No check that, a spirit set. We live in a crumbling world often full of sad and trying circumstances. But people we do have joy! Joy that is rich and true and unending no matter what can assail us! We celebrate Christmas for only one reason each year. We celebrate the divine intervention into our hopeless circumstances in this fallen world of the one true King of Hope. At least that's what my family and I celebrate. I can't speak for you. But I can tell you this. If you spend some time seeking Him you will find Him. When you do He will transform your life forever, I promise you. He fixed a broken man like me as I had no ability to do that myself. I don't look for gifts under the tree so much anymore. I just keep opening the one God gave me and it's still new every day. So may God bless you and your family this sacred season of joy! That star still shines brightly today!
Luke 2:11
For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.
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