Thursday, December 16, 2010

THE MOST WONDERFUL TIME OF THE YEAR!

Christmas, for me, is the most wonderful time of the year. It's a time to see family and friends, to share gifts especially selected to each one, for baking cookies, decorating the house, Christmas carols, parties, and so many other things. But those things, no matter how wonderful each one is, is not what makes Christmas the most wonderful time of the year.

Without the birth of my Savior, Jesus Christ, some 2,043 years ago, there would be nothing to celebrate. That cold winter night, shepherds were in the hills above Bethlehem protecting their sheep from the wolves that roam those hills when an angel appeared in the sky before them, proclaiming the birth of Christ the Lord. Somewhere in the east the wise men saw the star appear in the sky and began following it towards Bethlehem, the trip took them two years. Joseph and Mary, cold and tired from their trip to Bethlehem from Nazareth searched for a place to spend that night and could only find a barn available. Mary's labor began in earnest and soon she gave birth to a beautiful baby boy, she and Joseph named him Jesus. He was born to be the Savior of the world.

As you and your family celebrate this Christmas season, in the hustle and bustle, in the flurry of wrapping paper and the excitement of the children as they open their gifts, may you, if even for just a moment, stop and remember. Whisper a prayer of thanks for the greatest gift ever given, God gave his only Son because He loved us so much it was the only way to provide for the forgiveness of sin, the only way to make a path for us to enter Heaven. "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son. That WHOSOEVER believeth in Him, should not perish, but have everlasting life."

May your Christmas be merry and bright, and may God bless you and your family as you celebrate together. From our house to yours, MERRY CHRISTMAS!!