Merry Christmas. Happy Birthday Jesus. Today is my favorite celebration of the year. There are so many days to celebrate. I love the verse from the book of Psalm, Chapter 118:24 “This is the day the LORD has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.” For me this simple verse reminds me to rejoice and be glad in every day. It is a verse that gives me joy when I struggle to feel joy.
Christmas Day is the day we celebrate the birth of Jesus. And when we focus our minds on Jesus and His amazing life, I have come to believe that our hearts will follow. On Christmas, I find myself wandering what it would be like to be there in that manger for His birth. Wise men took a great journey to welcome Jesus. They followed the star and came to celebrate Him and give Him gifts. I wonder what it would be like to be one of the wise men? Think about it, taking a long journey to welcome the birth of our Lord and Savior.
As I welcomed the birth of a child into this world I experienced a feeling of anticipation and hope and love like no other I had experienced. The miracle of childbirth is so amazing and humbling. When it was my own child, my knees became weak. I can remember feeling both so nervous and excited – anticipating whether she was healthy or even whether she was a boy or girl. We chose not to know ahead of time. I often wonder what God thinks about something or how He feels. Fortunately, He shares so much about Himself and His relationship with His people in the Bible. I wonder how He felt at the actual birth of His only begotten son, Jesus? I know God is love and He feels perfect love. I find myself asking Him to make my love “perfect.” When I read about His description of love in 1 Corinthians 13, I see my love needs to grow.
Even though I was made in the image of God, I realize that He is my creator, our creator. The hands that created me created the heavens and earth. He created the seas. The morning sunrise was His doing. And, He created this Holy Child with an amazing plan for Him. A child who would only live in the flesh for 33 years. Yet, this child would become the Savior of the Earth. His spirit would be with us forever.
The birth of Jesus was not necessarily the beginning of the story. It seems to me the story began in the beginning described in John 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. God’s plan for us is beyond my wildest dreams and imagination in so many ways. However, I hold on with all of my heart, all my mind and all of my soul to the conviction that He created me with a plan in mind. And, I will look to Him to find His plan for me and I WILL rejoice and be glad in it.
For me, each of our children are “perfect.” I know and they know that they have plenty of imperfections. We share in the knowledge that I have plenty of weaknesses as their earthly Father. But, I love our children as they are, perfections and imperfections. They honor me in so many ways. They make me proud. They help me see and believe even more in Gods work in this world. Before I loved them I feel like I loved others with so much passion and emotion. Since I came to love them, I feel like my love increased beyond my own imagination’s measure. As I came to realize that, I loved them even more.
I want to be careful here. I am not suggesting that people who have not experienced having children to love do not love as fully as others. I AM suggesting that I did not love as fully before experiencing the amazing honor of being a Father as I did when I became a Daddy. I am so thankful for the increase I saw in myself for the capacity for loving. There have been other wonderful circumstances in my life where I saw my love grow. Each of those are to me a miracle of life that make it even more worth living. As we journey through life, I believe God opens doors for us to increase our love for Him and for others. I hope to walk through all of those doors the Lord has in mind for me.
Today, we celebrate what I have come to know and believe as life’s greatest miracle. John 3:16: "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” As we read more of God’s word and believe in Him more in our hearts and minds, I find it becoming undeniable that God always keeps His promises and that God’s son is who God says He is. As He said in front of witnesses in Matthew 3:17, “And a voice from heaven said, "This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased."
Thank you God for this day. Thank you for the gift of your son, Jesus. May we honor and glorify in celebrating today on Christmas and all the days of our lives. Imagine that? Every day we celebrate the birth of our savior, the Lord Jesus and His amazing gifts of faith, hope and love for us. Amen. Merry Christmas!
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