The Gift

So the Christmas countdown is officially on...

Advertisers will soon start to try and stir panic inside us that we have only x number of days left to buys gifts for people.
Numerous friends on facebook are posting comments about this countdown and how ready or not they feel.
Jack even came up to me this morning with some random countdown based around that 12 Days of Christmas song.

If you are really looking forward to Christmas, no doubt you are counting down the days also.
The excitement will be building…
You are probably making plans for that one special day?
Maybe you have got a tree and decorations up as an ever present reminder of what you are looking forward to?

Expectant parents, especially first timers, act very similar.
They have an idea when the big day is coming.
There is excitement and trepidation.
And most like we were...run around preparing for the new arrival.

This all makes me wonder how God felt leading up to that very first Christmas?
Was He excited? Or even nervous?
Was He planning on it being a very special day?
Well I think He was excited...and probably not nervous.
He knew very well what this monumental day would mean to the Kingdom of Heaven. He knew what was going to unfold over the ensuing years.
If it was just some random day like any other He would have never organized a huge choir of angels to perform.
If it was just another day He would have never told some wise men about it weeks before it would come to pass.

I think Christmas is special to God!
It should also be so special to us as well, not because of our gifts or maybe even lack of them...but because it was the day of days when God gave ‘The gift’ to mankind.
That gift? God with Us...
You can’t top that one no matter how hard you try!

Something to think about…

song title

“All I want for Christmas is you”
...well that is how the song goes…

One year as a kid, people taught me a song called “All I want for Christmas is my 2 front teeth”. Obviously that was something I probably needed at the time.

I bet that first Christmas, before it was even called Christmas, Mary would have had an interesting title for what she wanted. Probably related to the fact she was about pop out a baby!

Kids in our western culture get an opportunity to say what they want for Christmas too.
You can send a letter to someone called Santa Claus who apparently lives at the north pole. And no matter how little or inaccurate the address you place on the envelope...it seems to always get there???
Plus you can add to your ‘chances’ of getting what you want for Christmas by visiting him at a Santa’s Grotto, get your picture taken, and tell him again what you really really want.
(note to readers : a spice girls song just popped into my head….aaagghhh!)

So what do you really want for Christmas?
If you could have anything, what would it be?
And if there was someone who was really listening and that someone had the power to grant the request...what would it be?

Check this passage out from the Bible...

Philippians 4:5-7
5...The Lord is near. 6Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Santa can be fun...but he really lacks the power to change your life. To meet the needs you really have.
I am so thankful I have my God to talk to, to ask stuff of.
I am so grateful he is listening.
I am so grateful he can answer my requests…
I pick him over a red suit guy any day!

Something to think about…

frisbee

When I was a kid, one of the favourite Christmas songs we would listen to was Snoopy’s Christmas by the Royal Guardsmen.
That song came out all the way back in 1967 and was a huge hit then. My mum had a 45 Single (at which some of you reading this are saying...what?). Before the days of iTunes single downloads, CD’s or even cassette tapes...singles came out on these small vinyl albums called 45’s.
I remember the day that sentimental song and item came to a very sad end!
My sister, wound up by me I have to admit, out of
frustration decided to try and decapitate me with the closest object she could find.
Unfortunately that object ended up being this little 45.
She quickly took aim and fired it at me like a frisbee.
I also remember ducking with my superhero reaction skills and watched as it sailed over my head into the lounge wall...shattering into many pieces!

While that song is fun to many and way too corny to others...it does illustrate something very powerful about Christmas time.

The story is fictional about the Red Baron and a guy called Snoopy in a dogfight during World War 1. They decided not to kill each other that day because it was Christmas!
There is some fact about that time in history.
During that same war, at many places along the front, Germans and English soldiers stopped fighting. They cleared the no mans land of bodies, shared gifts of beer, cigarettes and tinned meat. Even some played soccer!

I guess the point for me is that Christmas is a time to do what no one expects!
God did what many didn’t expect and sent His son to earth in the form of a baby.

Maybe this Christmas time you can be like the Red Baron?
Maybe be like a solider during the ‘great war’?
Maybe be like Jesus?
Just maybe you can use this season to not be what
everyone expects you to be?
Maybe you can bless someone who has tried to destroy you at some time this year.
Go on, shock the world with your love and forgiveness…
Find someone to bless whether they deserve it or not.
I dare ya!

Something to think about…