Christmas

I have only been following God for six years, oh I believed in God my entire life, but I've only been FOLLOWING God for six years...some days I do that better than others but EVERY day I do it. For most of my life Christmas time was just about presents and family and eating (of course), it was about snowy mornings and trees decorated and people being warm towards each other. I knew it was to celebrate the birth of Jesus, but honestly that didn't really mean much to me.

I can remember as a little girl my grandpa telling me that Jesus loves me, that Jesus lives in my heart (which by the way totally freaked me out as a five year old) and that Jesus died for me....but it just wasn't PERSONAL for me....I didn't KNOW this Jesus person and I didn't ask Him to die for me.

I wonder how many people this Christmas are like I was for so many Christmas's? I wonder how many people say Merry Christmas without giving Jesus a single thought? I wonder if we "Christians" even think about Jesus during this time of the year?

I'm guilty of getting so worked up over my list of things to do, worrying about making sure my kids have a good Christmas, making sure we see everyone...I'm guilty of allowing Christmas to stress me out instead of allowing God's love to pour over me during this time of the year...especially this time of the year.

Regardless of what you believe, Christmas is about the birth of a man who didn't have to come to this Earth yet did because He loved us. LOVED US! Not a fake love, not a superficial love, but a deep and unconditional love. A love that we can't even believe to be true...not for us. Christmas my friends is about feeling Grace, seeing Grace, experiencing Grace.

This Christmas, when you're alone take a moment to pause and think about WHY you're celebrating Christmas, WHY it matters to you, WHY we have this holiday. This Christmas instead of getting worked up over the junk that we've allowed to be apart of our holiday (family stress, money stress, time stress) I challenge us all to let that stuff go and focus on what matters....God so loved the WORLD that gave His one and only Son...Christmas totally rocks!

Till next time my friends....