Jesus is the Reason for the Season

Christmas Day, 2007

For Christmas, my sister and brother-in-law, Millie and Drew, invited us up to their house.

They live a little north of Charlotte, NC and it took me less than five hours to drive there. Last night I made us all chicken and dumplins the way Grandma taught me how to make them. They turned out very good. I made a mess making them but they were so good. Besides, we have a saying in our family, "He who cooks doesn't do dishes."

A Tough Celebration

This was a tough time for me; I've been very sad. The toughest part for me was wrapping my gifts. The wrapping paper is stored in the closed in which Trudie would stash the gifts that she bought throughout the year for various people. When I went in the "magic closet" to get the wrapping paper I came across some gifts that she had bought for Gracie. I lost it. It's hard to even write about it. I got through that and I got through today pretty well.

God's Gift

Then driving home today, I remembered that we are celebrating God's gift to us. Himself! As a Christian, I believe that on Christmas God became like one of us. God became man so that he could make a way for us to have a intimate relationship with Him. This gift cost Him dearly but He did it so that we could be friends with him FOREVER. I believe that Trudie is now directly enjoying that friendship and I too am enjoying it just in a different way.

So in Christmas, I believe that we celebrate that God has given us a wrapped gift. We can't tell what the real gift is inside because it is wrapped up as a baby. During His life, Jesus tried to explain what God's gift was, but few would hear it. It wasn't until Easter that God's gift was fully exposed that Jesus was who He said He was - that He was God - and that He had come to give men who would believe on Him the gift of eternal life and right fellowship with Him.

So even though I 'm dealing with my sadness, I can think about the wonderful relationship I have with my Father. He has given me a gift that I didn't do anything to earn yet He still has shown me His love by giving me Jesus' redemptive work.