I love Christmas.
The bright lights and giddy commotion.
Wide eyes and Grand-Canyon grins.
Joy to the World and Silent Night.
A rainbow of packages spread beneath the tree.
Snickerdoodles and bourbon pecan pie.
Peas and carrots and mashed potatoes.
Gramma and Grampa coming our way.
Or maybe we’re heading out to Vermont,
In a one-horse open sleigh.
Friends over for drinks and dinner.
Bright hopes for tomorrow; a toast to one another.
Good Christian Friends, Rejoice, rejoice … Christ is born today.
I love the energy of Christmas.
Something good always happens.
Because love is real.
And God is love.
Life filled with promise at every turn in the road.
God is here!
God is there!
Small enough to fit into Bethlehem’s manger.
Humble enough to be born in stable.
God with us.
Emmanuel.
In the darkness, a light.
A light burning bright.
The light of the world.
God’s love for all.
I love Christmas.
It brings out the child in all us.
Because children do it best of all.
I love the children’s Christmas pageant.
Costumes and cardboard camels and songs to sing and lines to memorize.
The story told again and again.
The story told anew.
Shepherds in the dark hills of Judea.
A heavenly chorus of angels.
The first words spoken in the dawn of a new world.
Don’t be afraid.
We bring you glad tidings.
Good news of great joy.
Unto you is born this day
In the City of David,
A savior who is Christ the LORD.
You will find him wrapped in his mother’s love,
Lying in a manger, safe and warm.
Hark! The Herald Angels Sing …
While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks.
Go, Tell it on the Mountain .. over the hills and everywhere.
The shepherds set out at once to find him.
They believed, and we do, too.
There’s something in all us that trusts deeply and loves greatly.
The child’s heart within all of us.
O Come All Ye Faithful … The First Noel.
Every year, like those shepherds of old,
We make our trek to Bethlehem to see if it’s true, wanting it to be true, hoping it’s true, wondering if it’s true …
And every year, we discover anew the Christ in our heart.
We watch “It’s a Wonderful Life” and get teary eyed with George Bailey, when an angel gets its wings … we watch soldiers come home to the arms of their loved ones … we read an inspiring story and take a deep breath and give it a try … … Christmas does something wonderful to all of us … something good and beautiful … we find Christ in our heart!
And we find ourselves.
Who we are and what we want to be.
O Little Town of Bethlehem.
The hopes and fears of all the years are met in thee tonight.
The light of the little manger.
Burning bright in the night.
The light of the little manger.
The light of Christ the Savior.
In our hearts.
The manger of our love.
A little place just right for Christ.
A little place filled of gifts.
The stuff we’ll need for the year ahead:
Courage … the courage to face whatever life throws at us, the courage to look upward and trust God … the courage to forgive and build a bridge and take down a fence and heal a wound and put on a smile and reach down deep and believe, and trust and hope.
Confidence … the confidence to keep on keepin’ on with our lives … to stay the course and never give up, for Christ is in all things, and in all things, God is at work … and we can do all things through Christ who strengthens us.
Comfort … the comfort that consoles us with heaven’s love, when life takes a hard turn and our heart is broken … the comfort of God’s hand upon our lives, that we belong to God, and God is our strength and God is our guide, and we’ll get there, however it works out … and life is good, and there is nothing that can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our LORD … nothing in life and nothing in death … nothing anywhere that has a greater power than the light of God’s love, burning bright in the night, the night Christ was born
The light of Christ,
The gifts of Christ!
The stuff we’ll need for the year ahead.
That’s why I love Christmas!
Merry Christmas, indeed.
Merry Christmas to all.
The light of Christ, burning bright.
Amen and Amen!
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