Oh, December, such a Precious Gift

Well, Y'all, December has happened upon us!   Blink twice and it will be forever gone.   I do pray that as we go into the Christmas Season that we will carry our Thanksgiving attitude and mindset right along with us.  We all do have so much to be thankful for, and Christmas should be at the top of that list.  Oh, I'm not speaking as much of the secular side of Christmas as I am of the Spiritual side of Christmas.   We all love to give and receive gifts.  Who doesn't?  But, what I'm really thinking of is the gift that God, The Father, has lovingly bestowed upon all who will willingly receive that gift.  That gift is Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior.  Lord and Savior of all who have called upon Him for salvation and also Lord and Savior to those who will call upon Him for salvation.

This is a devotional that I wrote three years ago.  I do hope and pray that you enjoy it and that you can find some comfort in it as we go into the Christmas Season.  For many, the holidays are sad, due to varying circumstances.  I do hope and pray that if you are one of the many, that you can take something away from this that will give you a new joy and hope for the days to come.

Happy Birthday Jesus

Happy Birthday Jesus!! This is the time of year that we celebrate Your wonderful birthday!  As I think about the celebration, I think about the changes that Your Birthday has made to the world in which I live.  I think about pain and joy and happiness and sadness and baggage and travel and many more things that I just don't have the proper words describe.

When I think of pain, I think of the pain You must have had, for You to leave the grandeur of heaven and come to earth, to be born a baby in a manger in a stable where the animals got to be a witness to the most wonderful and amazing birth the world has ever witnessed.  But that was just the beginning of the pain for You.  You could have chosen to stay in heaven, but You chose our lives over your own life.  When You was on the cross, we was on your mind.

When I think of joy and happiness, I think of the joy and happiness that only mothers truly understand.  I personally, am not a mother, but, I was born with the heart of a mother.  I can see and sense the joy and happiness that new moms feel when they are holding and snuggling with their new-born bundles of joy, the same joy and happiness that Mary had on the night You were born.

When I think of sadness, I think of the sadness that Mary must have had when she realized that Your life was so much more than that of her child.  Your life was so much bigger than Mary could have ever imagined, even when she seen Your life spilling from You at Calvary.  The pouring out of Your life is what enabled Your Light to shine from heavenly places.  Your life was and is the the Light of this world.  The Light that we call Salvation.  The world thought that if they extinguished the light in one life, Your Life, that they could put out the Light of Goodness and Hope.  Not so, all of us who have accepted You as our Lord and Savior are reflections of Your Light.

When I think of baggage, I think of all the baggage that each and every one of us came to You with.  We come to You at different ages and stages of our lives. Some of us were younger, and therefore less baggage.  Some of us were older, with more baggage.  When I look back at the baggage of my own personal life, I can see all the ways that You have cleaned me up.  You have given me a new thought process, You have given me a new word to speak, You have given me a new song in my heart, You have given me a clean heart.  You have taken away shame, bitterness, hatred, anger.  You made a new creature out of me.

When I think of travel, I am reminded that You traveled by foot, by boat, and by donkey.  I am also reminded that when You traveled, where ever You traveled, You were about Your Father's business.  You changed the lives of all who came in contact with You.  You took some men, not loved by many, and touched their lives and changed their lives in ways they could never have imagined.  You, alone, Jesus, had compassion on the women You came in contact with, and changed their lives and enabled them to have a reason to celebrate.  You went into the market places, into the homes of the most common, You went into the synagogues, You cleaned up the temple, You taught people how to live. You showed us that our life is not our own.  It is Yours, bought and paid for with Your blood.  You taught us that it is more blessed to give than to receive.  You gave us Your life, You gave us Your Light, You gave us Your Hope, and You keep giving us renewed strength from day to day to live in this world, and to reach out and offer Hope and Light to those we come in contact with while we travel the hi-ways and byways.

So, in remembering Your Birthday, Jesus, and celebrating the Joy that You have given each of us through Your birth, I say thank You, Jesus, that You chose to be born.  Thank You, that You were born for the most common.  Thank You, that You taught us how to live.  Thank You, that You made the way for us to have a relationship with our Heavenly Father.   Please help us to be about our Father's business till You come again.

So , we celebrate You, Wonderful, Prince of Peace, Bright Morning Star, Gift of God, Lily of the Valley, Son of God, Rock of Ages, Judge, Savior, Prince, Emmanuel, Rose of Sharon, Physician, Fountain, Guide, Bread of Life, Advocate.   Thank You God, that You loved us enough to give us the very Best that You had to offer on Christmas Day!!!(written by: pjg10-8-2010, edited 12-1-13)

I do pray that as we go into the Christmas Season, that we will remember, "Jesus is the reason for the Season!"   It is more blessed to give than to receive.   You may say, "I don't have much to give."   You know what, a smile, a warm hug, a hand shake, and saying, "Jesus loves you, so do I", doesn't cost a penny.   These things are priceless.   These are the things that people will remember, long after everything else has been taken back to the store to be exchanged.   These are things that will be remembered long after the landfills are filled to capacity with all the "stuff" that our money can by.   These are the things that truly make a difference in the lives of those around us.   I challenge you to make a difference in the part of the world in which you live.   One person can make a difference!  Jesus did!

Jesus loves you, so do I!  Hugs and be blessed Y'all! Patty