TWAS THE WEEK BEFORE CHRISTMAS! 12/18/11

TODAY is the week before Christmas and a thought occurred to me. Is your house quiet, is it full of activity, are the sugar plums dancing in your heads? Do the children help you with the shopping, especially this week when it all comes down to the wire? Or are you worrying about the cost!

IN REMEMBERING Christmas when I was a child, us kids never went shopping but we did look all over the house to see if there were toys, hidden somewhere, out of our reach. I remember my mother heading for her room shortly before we were all tucked into bed and you could hear the whirring of her sewing machine into the wee hours of the morning.

JIM and I never took our children shopping with us. We took them shopping when it was time for them to shop, and I believe that was at a very early age. Whatever they pointed at, was purchased as their gift for Jim or me. I still believe that children should be left at home during this season. Makes it much easier on the shoppers all around, and for the kids, it gives great expectations for Christmas morning. Something they could look forward to would be under the tree!

NOW baking and decorating is a different story. I always tried to encourage the kids to help me in the kitchen. I remember making santa jars and the kids filling them with hard Christmas candies. I invited an old man who’s name was Bob to have lunch with us. I had worked with him and always thought about him, because he reminded me of my Dad. This one Christmas I called him and the kids and I went to pick him up and brought him home. When it was time for us to take him back, the kids gave him the Christmas candy jar. He was very pleased! I cried when I said goodby, because I knew I would not see him again!

WE ALSO gave those candy jars to some of the men in Jim’s and my family. Uncle Bud, even when the candy was gone, sat the jar out and it became part of the decorations. When he passed away I took the jar as a memory of Uncle Bud.

CHRISTMAS is a time that is full of memories. We all have our patterns of celebrations. Many of us, instead of finding the joy, are filled with sadness. I can’t help but remember Christmas past, because mine were always filled with joy. So many of my brothers and sisters are celebrating in heaven in the presence of God. We are still celebrating here on earth in memory of the Christ child, who grew to be the man of sorrows. We need to celebrate in the now because the present is where we are living. We live today, with Christ within us because we have chosen Him as Savior!

WHAT IS IT about the present that makes our Christmas today so special? It is because we are still waiting and preparing for His return. We have placed our hope in that Christ child born over 2000 years ago, and who grew to be a man. The difference is that He is our Savior! Thirty three years after his birth He went and suffered on a cross of shame to take the sins of the world upon himself. No one could do that but God! “God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him, should not perish but have everlasting life!” John 3:16

THIS SCRIPTURE says; “should not perish.” Does that mean belief is just not enough! When God says “whosoever believes in Him, should not perish,” He is saying that Satan believes and is condemned. John the Baptist came making straight the path that leads to Jesus. He came to prepare us with repentance through baptism. Jesus came to give us forgiveness and the Holy Spirit, through baptism, which was established in the beginning of the church.

TWAS THE NIGHT before Christmas, and all through the house, let’s arise in anticipation, to celebrate the Christ. His love is everlasting and He brings us life! He softly says; “Come, you who are favored;” Hallelujah, what a Savior! By Jane Ann Crenshaw 12/12/11