Christmas-The Ultimate Gift

On Thursday we will once again celebrate Christmas. A day that brought life like no other. But this past Thursday I sat ina small room, in a small church on the outskirts of my small town. The women there were different from me in many ways. Some sat in this room because they had been commanded by the courts because of alcohol abuse. Others sat in the room because of drug abuse. I sat slightly behind the table and listened as the women recounted their Christmas traditions. I was amazed to find that some had none. Not one.

They didn't have the tradition like me and my family of Christmas eve where we gather around the table and eat steamed shrimp, french fries, Darlyn's homemade coleslaw and rolls. They didn't have a tradition of after that dinner, sitting in the family room as all of us siblings and my nieces and nephews exchange our gifts. They didn't have the tradition of going to Walmart on Christmas Eve and seeing half of Camden and buying stocking stuffers. They didn't have the tradition of waking up on Christmas morning, eating mom's chocolate gravy and biscuits and going around the room as one person at a time opened a present. Or my own personal tradition that I've started of waking up before anyone else and reading my devotion and writing down all the amazing things God has done for me and my family the previous year.

No, many of them had no traditions. But we were alike too. We all stood in need of the gift that was given some two thousand years ago. Desperate need. Not one of us was good enough. No matter what demons we fight. At the end of the day we could have been shepherd's or wisemen, Mary or Joseph, Herod or Pilot. We could have been vagrants or Kings, but this same Jesus had to come for each of us. I don't know what you're family traditions are. I do know it's never too late to start one. And if you've never taken a moment to let this Savior of the world inhabit even the farthest corners of your soul, this would be a perfect time. He came for us. He left the perfection of heaven, to come to the pitiful state of earth and reach us in our humanness. Like the song says, "It was a strange way to save the world." But I'm so glad He did. As I recount the things I'm thankful for Christmas morning, once again I'll be thanking Him for what He did for me that Christmas morning. I honestly can't imagine how long God must have held his hand before He finally released Him to earth. I can't imagine the great heartache to know what He was sending His son to do. But God's love for you and me was why He let Him come. And I'm so grateful that He did...