To All...

Merry Christmas to All.

Have read of others mentioning how different Christmas is this year.  The reality of our home is 'different' has been a part of our Christmases for years. When loved ones move, when God calls them home.  Things inevitably get 'different'.  But the thing is not all different is bad. Different only means that what you once knew as comfortable will need to be found again.  Jesus is the same.  Today, yesterday and forever.  We might not be in the health we were once in, we may not have the family or friends around us for whatever reason. But we always will have the love of God in Christ Jesus. 

It's very easy to allow bitterness and resentment into our lives but oh so difficult to remove it.  Most would be reluctant or in denial that the root of theirs is placed at Jesus's feet.  They are blaming Jesus for who is no longer with them.  Blaming Him for their failing health.  For whatever they are going through. They won't speak it but their lives reflect it.  You can easily add red food coloring to whole milk. But you can't remove it without replacing the milk.

The message of Christmas isn't in any circumstance or who is or isn't with us.

The message of Christmas is bound up in one thing.  God the Father had a plan to save His most beloved creation.  Mankind.  That Plan included sending His one and only Son in the form of a helpless baby named Jesus.  It would be Jesus who would seek and save.  He lived a perfect life, became the perfect sacrifice to take all the wrath of God on Himself on the cross.  In a few months we celebrate His crucifixion and His resurrection.  But in this day the meaning of Christmas is bound up in a child.  For God so loved You that He gave His only begotten Son that if You believe in Him you will not perish but have everlasting life. 

There will always be the Different at Christmas.  

But remember what will always be the same. 

The love of God for you stretched from Heaven to Earth.  The Father said that this is His Beloved Son, Listen to Him!

I miss many this time of year.  We all do.

I hurt in that loss as I am sure you all do as well. 

But I know that in Heaven there's celebration. 

I need to celebrate too in what they do.

There's still time to receive the gift of Salvation. 

No need to wrap it.  The joyous part is you can receive it but it's Jesus who unwraps it in your life.  He comes to you every day to remind you that He loves you and is oh so happy that He took away your sin.  

So Merry Christmas to all. Life doesn't consist of one's possessions.  Life is what we receive in Christ. Your posessions will degrade and break down in time.  In Christ you can only receive more love, more grace and more forgiveness each day.