Browse the holiday rack at the greeting card counter.
Mother’s Day, birthdays, Thanksgiving … ah, there’s the Christmas cards.
They are bright and colorful, among the best on the rack. Rudolph, Santa, a snowfall, even a glitter-painted Christmas scene. Then look, that one lights up when you open it, a color-spattered tree with presents underneath.
What would our Christmas card from Jesus look like? What would the Master write inside? What would he say to us during the holiday festivities that surround the celebration of his birth?
It might read something like this:
“Faith makes all things possible; Hope makes all things work; Love makes all things beautiful; May you have all the three for this Christmas. Merry Christmas.”
The Reverend Richard J. Fairchild of the United Church of Canada says it like this:
“May the hope, the peace, the joy, and the love represented by the birth in Bethlehem this night fill our lives and become part of all that we say and do.”
Romans 15:13 says it this way:
“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.”
Christmas isn’t just the cards, no matter how beautiful. It isn’t the gifts or the tree, although the traditions we have certainly carry on that first Christmas gift when God gave us his Son.
Christmas is about finding faith in Jesus, about the hope that comes from our trust in him, and the love we learn to share with everyone we meet.
Christmas is about becoming more like Christ. It’s our once-a-year reminder that we have been given something bigger than ourselves, and we can become better than we were.
Let’s consider the words of C.S. Lewis, renowned author:
“Once in our world, a stable had something in it that was bigger than our whole world.”
The love of Jesus is bigger than we can imagine. There’s no end to it. When we share the love of Christ, there’s more than enough to go around.
Christmas is about love. Let’s practice it today.
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