Merry Christmas!

“Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son,
   and they shall call his name Immanuel”  Matthew 1:23

What a wonderful time of year!  Streets and stores and homes filled with strings of lights reminding us of the Light of the World, our Savior, Jesus Christ our Lord!  What a blessing to have the God of the universe come to earth to live as a human, struggle as a human, endure pain as a human, and die as a human only to be raised from the sealed tomb and reign in our hearts and save us from our sins!

All too often we forget this precious gift...we move about our days filled with appointments and business- fuled by coffee and money, power and pride- only to find ourselves at the end of the day with nothing more than what we started with.  When Christmas comes to town, there is a change of heart, and change of pace (which really only means we move faster and become more stressed because naw we must add "Christmas shopping" to our "to-dos.")  Is this what Christmas is?  Less than a month of overstressing, overspending, overeating, and overanalyzing?...and then a month of "resolutions" to be "better" the next time around...and where do we find ourselves???  Right back where we were last year...  No.   This is NOT CHRISTmas!

Christ came to live among us so that we would have a savior who understands, who can take our hand and walk us through our days helping all the way.  A couple of weeks ago I wrot about keeping Christmas in our hearts all year...now more than ever I realize every day that I need to be reminded to keep CHRIST in my heart EVERY MOMENT of every day...to remember that whatever I am struggling with in that moment, Christ was tempted in the SAME WAY, and has the power and stregth to help me through.  This IS CHRISTmas!

Christ came to be born of a virgin as a human baby so that He could die as a man and be Immanuel (God with us) for erternity.  PRAISE God for the greatest gift ever given!  A gift that is available to ALL people...at no cost to anyone but Himself.  Best gift...best Love story ever told. 

As the year comes to a close, resolve to allow CHRIST to reign in your heart and be your HELPER through every moment of this coming year.