The Real Joy of Christmas

As Christmas day nears, all of us have joy and frustratation. Children are all excited about Santa Claus and what he will bring them. They talk with their friends at school and watch TV and the list is endless for the things that are available for children today. Not only children but the entire family can benefit from all of the electronic, modern conveniences and nick-nacks that are on the market. But just what is all of this STUFF anyhow. Is it something that will be just as importantant to us next year or even next month, or will something else come along that will be better, and yadda, yadda, yah.

Glancing around my own home, I see things that are outdated, and things that I thought I wanted and never use anymore, and there are things that are perfectly good but someone has made something better to take its place. Think about the origional disc movie players--Big as a LP album and not so handy. Along came the VHS, great for us who hadn't bought the origional player and could now afford a VHS player. Soon we had to replace it with a VHS-DVD player because the DVD had came along. I'm stopping here but you can see that all things change from year to year and they improve and we are suppossed to get the new. What do we do with the old? Are we to continually cast things out, because something better has came along? Not me, and it is a good thing that I like old things. I still have a turn table and LP albums.

Last night I watched a wonderful movie on the Hallmark Channel about "Christmas in Canaan". It was a story about a Texas farm family that has fallen on hard times, about their love for each other and the neighbor family. It is something that everyone should watch and know that Christmas isn't just about the material things but about the love of a family, friends, and most of all for me, it is the gift of a Savior. In this story, the father wants to give his motherless children things but farm prices and other situations don't allow it. He cuts things from the catalog and wraps them beautifully and gives each one the gift that he would like to give them. They rejoice over it and are so excited that he would even think of giving them such wonderful things. Just watch the movie tonight (Sunday DEC 13th) and watch to see if it will be on another time and you will not be sorry.

I worry about what I buy my own children and grandchildren. They seem to have so much and their tastes are so much different than mine. What I do give to them is something I want them to have, Often I spend more money than I have but I want them to be happy. That is not always the case. I don't want to always give them money. I have friends that do that all of the time. Money, is not from the heart. I want them to know that I cared about them enough to search out something that I thought was right for them. I want it to be the RIGHT CHRISTMAS GIFT.

God gave us the Right Christmas Gift over 2000 years ago. It was His precious Son. He allowed Him to leave the glories of heaven and spend time on this Earth and Sacrifice Himself so that we could have the Ultimate Gift. It is free of charge, NO Cost --- We just have to ask for it. Even though Jesus came at the time we celebrate as Christmas, His gift is available to us 365 days of the year if we just ask Him into our hearts.

Even when, the markets falter, the crops aren't too great, we can still celebrate the Birth of our Savior and rejoice. Thank you Father for giving us THE RIGHT CHRISTMAS GIFT.