The best season of the year
Carols are playing a month beforehand. Shopping lists and travel plans are made weeks in advance. Christmas trees in the living room with the splendour of decorations.
People love Christmas.
It’s the season they look forward to the most. Maybe it’s the excitement of opening presents or because the holiday season allows for large family gatherings.
Christmas, however, is not merry for everyone. It’s equally a heartbreaking time for families who have lost a loved one during this season, or perhaps this is their first Christmas without a close one.
The reason for the season
I’m sure we’ve all heard the saying, ‘Jesus is the reason for the season’. This is indeed true. He is the reason we get a holiday from the season. And it’s somehow linked to his birthday.
But apart from that, in what way is he important to you?
Because he isn’t the one that bought gifts for your ‘wish list’. Nor is he physically sitting with you at the Christmas feast.
Did you put him at the centrepiece of the dining table or is he sitting in the nativity set?
The candles of Advent
Four weeks to prepare ourselves for Christmas, to recentre our lives around the true meaning of Christmas. But is one month sufficient to align ourselves to God when we had fifty-one weeks and six days?
Hope. Love. Joy. Peace.
An accurate representation of Jesus.
Perfection in bodily form.
We all long for this. Both now and over two thousand years ago. A leader who could spark positivity and bring us to victory. The very gifts God gave us for Christmas – tangible or not? That’s up to you to decipher.
His giving is endless
If you had one word to sum up the Christmas spirit, what would it be?
I would choose the word: Giving.
Children already tend to associate Christmas with Santa Claus. Even in different cultures, Santa comes as a gift-bearer. Christmas is renowned for gifts. It began with Saint Nicholas, a Christian faithfully and generously giving, and so its tradition continues even to this day.
Giving that is unconditional, sacrificial, and persistent. God gave this to us in the form of Jesus. And Jesus lived to be and fulfilled that exactly.
This meaning is incredibly lost amongst the temperamental gifts and presents that last only the holiday season. A culture of having and not letting go.
Christmas is here to stay
I think realising the truth and foundation of Christmas is significant. It impacts how we spend Christmas and live each day as recipients of God’s gifts.
People always say, ‘we want it to be Christmas every day’.
The truth is it can be Christmas every day. God did not give Jesus for one day; he gave him for everyone in history, the present, and the future.
The precious gifts of hope, love, joy, and peace remain. The spirit of giving remains. All this can occur because Christ remains.
I believe if we live with the Spirit of God in us, his Spirit will overflow into every area of our life. It will be so radical that his Spirit will touch people around us. The way he intended his life to be.
Unfortunately, if you expect to simply be a recipient of endless gifts, and treasure the superficiality of Christmas, Christmas will only be here on the 25th of December.
Every day is a celebration of Christ, not just Christmas. He is the reason for the season, but more than that, the reason for our existence.
The good news is Christ is here every single day, forever.
It’s still Christmas today.