The Amazing Christmas Story - Part 6

The end of Christmas week is always bittersweet. Sweet because Christmas has finally come, and then bitter because by the end of the week, Christmas begins to end. Yesterday I saw two Christmas trees on their way to being recycled, and it made me a little sad. One of my fondest childhood Christmas memories was lying on my stomach as far under our Christmas tree as I could get, reading a book by the light of the tree lights and enjoying the pine scent as I read. This year, Kathy and I created an inadvertent Christmas memory by sleeping in our living room, near our tree, with the lights on the tree and our window candle lights lit all night. Kathy's parents spent Christmas with us and we gave them our room to sleep in. We enjoyed eight nights with our tree. A few nights I woke briefly, and the multi-colored lights bathing our room, and the peacefulness of the atmosphere was wonderful. I learned to love the story of Christmas as a child, and it has only intensified as an adult.

For almost every year of my adult life, I have planned, rehearsed and performed one or more Christmas concerts, plays, or events for the various churches that I have served. I normally began working on the event sometime in June, and normally performed the last of the Christmas music for the year on the last Sunday of the year. While I have heard colleagues say after a long season of planning, rehearsing, and performing  something like "I'm glad that is over," I have never ever felt that way. In fact, for me, it was the other way around. Turning the last page, of the last song, at the last performance, was always a sad moment. I think if we could, I would have loved performing the concert or play, every day of the year. I would be like the little girl who loved Christmas so much, she'll willed it into existence. (Christmas Every Day by William Dean Howells)

I think because of all the research, reading the story hundreds of times, listening to copious amounts of music to glean the best each year to perform, reading many Christmas stories each year, and all of the other Christmas planning, I have become a true Christmas fan. I love every moment from the beginning to the end. However, since the story is so embedded in my heart and spirit, the story never ends for me. As each season of the church goes by in the year, it simply builds on His coming, Emmanuel, God with us. It is not accidental that the New Year begins a week after Christmas Day. Peace, hope, love, and sense of God's presence and guidance, should propel us into a new year filled with expectancy, hope, and gratitude that God is with us! 

God's first act of creation was, and God said, "Let there be light," and there was light. Gen 1:3 The prophet Isaiah wrote, The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned. Isa 9:2 Our nation and world are in desperate need of the Light. They must know that the Light has dawned. As our nation approaches a new year of uncertainty, Christians must let the Light shine through their lives. Christ did come as a baby, but He is still among us now as God Eternal, Powerful, desiring to touch our lives with His Spirit. God is with us...