It’s just after 5 a.m. and I am once again restless, reaching out to the Lord and wanting to know why. It’s just days away from Christmas, and what use to be my all time favorite time of the year isn’t the same. Something is wrong and has been for years.
This morning in my prayer time, (I usually find I say what is really wrong when I go to the Lord) something came out that nailed it. It feels like someone stole Christmas! The sad thing is that it is true!
When I talk to people, whether they know the Lord or not, they all say the same thing, just worded differently; I just can’t get into it this year, it just feels different. It could be stress, separation, Covid, the death of a friend or loved one, surgery; loss of income… wanting it to be like it use to be is the baseline!
The sad thing is that someone has been trying to steal Christmas and from day one, and his name is Satan. This isn’t anything new; he is just bolder as his time gets shorter. My guess is that it will continue to get worse each year for each one until we decide that we are not going to let him and take Christmas back! No one can take away our love for Christ Jesus or Christmas unless we let them.
Christmas was never about pleasing people, over decorating, overextending our credit, over eating, over doing, over scheduling and exhausting ourselves… on the contrary! Christmas was and still is not about what we give or do for each other but it was and is and always has been about what God has given to us. He has always given us His best, just look around.
God has given us a beautiful planet to live on, it could have been Mars! He gave us a beautiful background, look at the trees, flowers, waterfalls and oceans! He gave us songbirds, butterflies, fields, amusing squirrels, buffaloes and on and on I could go! He gave us people! Tall, short, skinny round, blondes, redheads, brunettes, blue eyes, brown eyes, green eyes, and grey. He gave us skin tones that are so varied and voices! Sopranos, baritones, altos and everything in between. And don’t forget laughter which in itself makes me laugh. And would we ever forget, all that we need to do is just look up! Sunrises, sunsets, clouds, clear skies, snow, rain, rainbows, stars, meteorological showers and so on.
This being said, how could we ever doubt that He is creative? How could we ever believe that He would be of the mindset that this is not good enough or that he doesn’t love us; and why would we EVER allow the greatest gift given to mankind to be “stolen” because we feel sorry for ourselves?
Christmas is about restoration, hope, healing, sharing and so very much more. It is about our Creator, the one Who created the sun, moon and the stars reaching down through time and giving! It isn’t that Christmas is given to us each year; it is that Christmas is up to us to remember. It is our responsibility to remember and celebrate the deep love of a Father, the undeserved compassion, the forgiveness that we FREELY can and have received when we ask. It is not up to God to give us anything more than He has already given.
Christmas cannot be stolen from a heart of thankfulness and gratitude. It cannot be stolen from one who truly knows and understands just what God has already done. It is a time of our stopping our own selfishness and thanking God for salvation from a world of sin, from bad relationships, from poverty of soul… from separation from Him!
Whatever we are feeling right now is up to us, it is a choice. We can be thankless or thankful. We can be hopeless or hopeful. We can allow Christmas and all that is stands for be stolen or hold onto it with every fiber in our being and fall on our knees in tears and thank God for giving not just a day or a present but the greatest gift ever given.
His name is Wonderful Counselor, Almighty God, everlasting Father, Prince of Peace, the lily of the Valley, Son of the living God, Beautiful, Living Water, The good Shepherd, The Light, the Gate, Bread of Heaven. He gave us a Savior… He gave us His best, He gave us his son and His name is Jesus.
May we all take our problems, issues, loneliness, hurt, pain, joy and peace, thank God for giving us His love wrapped up in a Person. May we all stop looking around for fulfillment and humbly thank God for satisfying our greatest need… forgiveness. May we all take back what the enemy has stolen and give God the glory for all that He has already done.
Merry Christmas!
Tami De Spain
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