Sunday, December 15, 2024

I expect the Christmas consumerism push to start the day after Halloween, which has been happening for years.  But this year I noticed it even before Halloween!  While gift-giving is a wonderful way to share love, it can get out of control and the bustle of preparing to celebrate Christmas can overshadow its true meaning: we are celebrating the birth of our Savior.
 
It would be strange to go to a birthday party and bring a gift for everyone there, except for the person celebrating their birthday!  Do we bring a gift for the child Jesus to our celebration of Christmas?  What would be a meaningful gift? What would Jesus want?
 
Obviously, Jesus doesn’t need any “thing.”  While He might like “peace on earth” or the end of poverty and suffering, those are obviously above our pay grade: there is no way we can bring about those monumental changes by ourselves.  But we can make a small contribution!
 
I invite us in these last 10 days before we celebrate the birth of our Savior to spend some quiet time with Jesus, asking Him what He wants for Christmas and then be quiet and listen.  Perhaps He will say being less impatient in traffic or with an annoying family member.  Or maybe spend more quality time with family members instead of scrolling on the internet. Or use some spare time to volunteer at a food pantry. Or visit some homebound relatives or neighbors. Or spend less money on myself and support causes that help others instead. Or…or…or. We have the custom of making New Year resolutions.  I wonder how many of them we keep?  Perhaps if we spend some time before Christmas in quiet with the Lord, asking Him what He wants from us for His birthday, and then resolving to give Him that special present, we will be more likely to follow through with it than we do with New Year resolutions. That will make our
celebration of the birthday of our Savior truly meaningful.  God bless.
 
Church sign: Jesus will help us through our holidaze.