"The Perfect Christmas”
I love everything about Christmas. I love the carols and the Christmas services. I love my house when it’s decorated for Christmas. I love finding that special gift. I love the baking and the cookies (especially the cookies!). I even love fruit cake! None of this makes Christmas happen, but you would never know it by observing the world as Christmas approaches.
How did God's gift of love to the world turn into the ‘season of greed’? How did the celebration of our Savior’s birth in a humble manger turn into the world trying (and always failing) to create the ‘perfect’ Christmas? The stores are full of books and magazines to help us create the ‘perfect’ Christmas--the perfect gifts to buy and how to wrap them; decorating ideas for your home; the perfect Christmas dinner and all kinds of cookies, cakes, and pies to make. The impression is given that if we do all of these things (and spend lots of money), then we and our family will have a wonderful, joyful Christmas. No wonder so many people get depressed at Christmas! We set ourselves up for failure (not to mention exhaustion!). No one can create the perfect Christmas. Only God can!
God has already created the perfect Christmas; given us the perfect gift. All we have to do is slow down and open our hearts to it. When we do that we not only ‘prepare the way for Him’ in our own lives, but in the lives of all we meet.
Margaret Williams
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