Spirit of Christmas

Christmas. The holiday of holidays. Some people spend a month in preparation for this one day. It can be quite hectic. Bake cookies, buy presents, wrap presents, attend parties, send cards, attend church. They reason, it's all is in the spirit of Christmas.

What exactly is the spirit of Christmas? Pondering this, I came up with several suggestions of what it should mean when mentioning the spirit of Christmas:

• Bake cookies - Sharing the bounty that God gives us is something we can do all year round not just with cookies at Christmas.
• Choose a gift - There is a sense of fulfillment when you pick out a special gift for someone. God picked out a special gift for each of us when He gave us salvation through Jesus Christ. And He gave us this gift because He wanted to; not because He had to.
• Wrap the gift - There is also fulfillment in wrapping the gift so that the person will desire to open it. Jesus spent several years in ministry, as recorded in the gospels, teaching, healing, and preparing His disciples. He wanted to make sure that we would be able to know who He was and what He did for us. He wanted to ensure that we could recognize the gift He had for us and that we would desire to have it.
• Attend parties - God created us to be social. He saw that none of the animals in Eden was fit for companionship for Adam. So He created Eve.   God created them to socialize with Him and each other.
• Send cards - What a wonderful way to encourage others but it doesn't have to just be at Christmas. God wants us to share the good news about Jesus all of the time not just at Christmas.
• Attend church - Is there a better way to spend Christmas than to worship God at church? God desires for us to seek Him daily, not just once a year. 

The many blessings that God gives us are not just at Christmas. He watches over us and cares for us daily. He even has the very hairs on our heads numbered!

So I challenge you not to have the spirit of Christmas but, the Spirit of God everyday. God is love and He wants us to know that love and to share it. That is something we can do everyday!

God Bless and Merry Christmas!

The Perfect Gift

Whew!! Trying to avoid the crazy hustle and bustle of the busy holiday season can be difficult. During some last minute holiday preparations, I came across this empty gift jar. At one time it held delicious chocolates; they didn't last long!!

Most people have received gifts like this one. You know, the kind that are a nice gesture from someone you didn't really expect would give you a Christmas present.

Our materialistic society leads us to believe that a gift is not only necessary, but it must be reciprocated. Even though I appreciate the gesture, I would rather spend time visiting with the gift giver over a cup of tea or during a walk.

Giving of yourself is the best gift anyone could give.

In fact, Jesus modeled this same concept when He came to Earth: to spend time with man, to teach man all about love and His triune divinity, to bear the guilt of all of mankind on His shoulders, and to die a horrible death so that each person who believes Jesus is Lord might be saved.

So the next time you are searching for the perfect gift, think about the wonderful gift described by the Apostle John and remember the best gift comes from the heart filled with love.