CHRISTMAS MORNING MUSING

CHRISTMAS MORNING MUSING

Listening to the lyrics of a Christmas carol… THAT’S WHAT CHRISTMAS MEANS TO ME… made me muse on the significance of this Christmas coming.

I’ve just put the finishing touches on the last chapter in a book I’ve been writing for the past few years. Picking up a chapter here and there as inspiration and events lead me to write. Now I find myself this Christmas Eve morning being done with it. Christmas Eve was my favorite day of the year when I was a boy. My family celebrated Christmas on the eve before because of my mom’s European background and tradition. The anticipation of Christmas Eve night held suspense, magic and excitement for me. Last night i spoke with my Aunt Wally, my mom’s sister, about the Christmas Eve traditions they brought to their families. It sent me back in time in a very nostalgic way.

Presently, I am sitting in a very comfortable reclining chair with my faithful dog on her comfortable bed near my feet and my family has already celebrated Christmas this year due to the fact that we alternate years on the actual day with my boys’ in-laws. My house is very quiet, yet I can hear God’s voice in my spirit beckoning me on… my anticipation is the celebration of the Christ child’s entry to save.

His anticipation is to come and say YES… my answer is yes. I like what you have done here. Your words will convince and touch some lives who most need it. I remember the echoes of Christmas past that took place in this living room for the past twenty-five years. The living room has seen my sons grow up, leave and come back with their own families. Some of my favorite dogs have lived in this room and have gone now.

When you are young, people tell you time moves fast and before you know it it’s gone by. Usually met with an eye roll and a feeling of “that won’t happen” then one day you wake up to the reality that time did in fact move too fast. When you have kids at home, you don’t necessarily have time to ponder early morning, Christmas thoughts when your life is moving at the speed of a child. But when you are alone in the room with just your dog and you have just accomplished something you’ve been entertaining for a long time, in my case writing this book, your mind can journey and wax sentimentally on as the sun slowly creeps toward the eastern horizon to bring the coming day.

The glow of a small Christmas tree in the room that my wife and I decorated for the two new babies, our newest grandson and granddaughter, who came into our lives this year is illuminating in a way that reminds me of the comforts of the holidays.

I think of a time when I sat in my childhood living room bathed in the warm light from a real pine tree festooned with real wax candles that my mom insisted on for Christmas Eve each year to harken her back to her own homeland European Christmases. I wonder if someday I might take the grandkids to Europe.

The thing that remains constant is the revelation of Jesus Christ, a baby who came to save and lives deep in the hearts of men and women many centuries later. It all began humbly. It all began with a breath of life. Then that little breath would grow into a force this world has never seen before or will again.

If you are fortunate to be warmed by simple images of Jesus in your own holiday traditions, you are blessed indeed. If the holidays evoke mostly pain and not a warm blanket of nostalgia, my hope is His hope will change that forevermore in your life and your decedents.

It’s Christmas for me today. But it is truly Christmas for mankind every day. Because a long time ago God said the answer was YES and he said it through His beloved Son, Jesus Christ, born that man may no more die. HARK! HIS ANSWER TO YOU TODAY AND EVERYDAY IS YES!

So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger.  When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told. Luke 2: 16-20