Christmas comes and goes, every year—is that all?<\/p>\n
Is Christmas for children?<\/p>\n
“Can We Have Christmas All Year Long?”<\/p>\n
Would it be special then?<\/p>\n
Is “Anticipation Greater Than Realization,” as my dad always said?<\/p>\n
If you get to be a kid again, have you caught something real about Christmas, even if just for a moment, for a day?<\/p>\n
What is the secret of Christmas—joy?<\/p>\n
What is the secret of Christmas—peace?<\/p>\n
What is the secret of Christmas—love?<\/p>\n
If Christmas comes and goes, every year, is that what happens to joy, peace, and love?<\/p>\n
What about Jesus, baby Jesus—does He come and go for the season, every year?<\/p>\n
Is Christmas what we make it—because we sure put a lot of effort and money into it?<\/p>\n
Or should we not celebrate Christmas, because the world around us makes it a counterfeit?<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
I decided to not try for some profound comment this Christmas.<\/p>\n
But I will address each of the questions above.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
(Christmas comes and goes, every year—is that all?)<\/p>\n
Christmas Day comes and goes, but it is only the beginning of the story.\u00a0 Jesus came from heaven, lived here, died here, rose again here, and went back to heaven to build mansions, and offers each of us one of those mansions for free, if we give Him everything (which is really nothing compared to what He gave).<\/p>\n
(Is Christmas for children?)<\/p>\n
Christmas is for children indeed.\u00a0 Jesus said, “Unless you come like little children, you cannot enter the kingdom of heaven.”<\/p>\n
(“Can We Have Christmas All Year Long?”)<\/p>\n
Christmas doesn’t stick around.\u00a0 Jesus didn’t stay a baby.\u00a0 But we can have Jesus all year long.\u00a0 He comes and stays by invitation only.<\/p>\n
(Would it be special then?)<\/p>\n
Much that makes Christmas special wears off, and that may be okay, but it remains very special if Jesus walks with us through every season of our lives.<\/p>\n
(Is “Anticipation Greater Than Realization,” as my dad always said?)<\/p>\n
The Season comes and goes, and we anticipate the highs, and sometimes struggle with the lows.\u00a0 But the anticipation of Jesus coming again is faint compared to the realization of that day.<\/p>\n
(If you get to be a kid again, have you caught something real about Christmas, even if just for a moment, for a day?)<\/p>\n
“Jesus Loves The Little Children, All The Children Of The World.”\u00a0 Enjoy anything that makes you feel like a kid.\u00a0 And then imagine Jesus picking you up in His arms and blessing you out of your socks, out of this world.<\/p>\n
(What is the secret of Christmas—joy?)<\/p>\n
“Joy To The World, The Lord Has Come.”\u00a0 Believe it.<\/p>\n
(What is the secret of Christmas—peace?)<\/p>\n
“Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you—not as the world gives, do I give to you.\u00a0 Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.\u00a0 In my Father’s house are many mansions.\u00a0 I go to prepare a place for you.\u00a0 And I will come again and receive you, so that where I am, there you may be also.<\/p>\n
(What is the secret of Christmas—love?)<\/p>\n
“Greater love has no one than this, that he lays down his life for his friends.\u00a0 And I have called you my friends.”<\/p>\n
(If Christmas comes and goes, every year, is that what happens to joy, peace, and love?)<\/p>\n
Joy, Peace, and Love are fragile and fleeting,\u00a0 That is why we need the Prince of Peace inside and the King of Love in charge and the Source of True Joy in the middle of this tough world.<\/p>\n
(What about Jesus, baby Jesus—does He come and go for the season, every year?)<\/p>\n
Celebrate the Baby Jesus every year.\u00a0 Sing the songs.\u00a0 Decorate the tree.\u00a0 And every Christmas renew your commitment to walk closer with Him all year, every day.\u00a0 That would make Jesus very happy.<\/p>\n
(Is Christmas what we make it—because we sure put a lot of effort and money into it?)<\/p>\n
Give Christmas every ounce of everything you have, and give to those who have less.\u00a0 We don’t make Christmas—God did that.\u00a0 We just give it away.<\/p>\n
(Or should we not celebrate Christmas, because the world around us makes it a counterfeit?)<\/p>\n
Never let Satan’s counterfeits rob you of what God gives us at Christmas.\u00a0 We have all the reasons to celebrate, for real.<\/p>\n
Jesus said, “The thief comes to steal, kill, and destroy; I came that you may have life, and have it more abundantly.”<\/p>\n
Live it!<\/p>\n
Amen!<\/p>\n
Hallelujah!<\/p>\n
“Sometimes I feel like shoutin, ‘GLORY’!”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Christmas comes and goes, every year—is that all? Is Christmas for children? “Can We Have Christmas All Year Long?” Would it be special then? Is “Anticipation Greater Than Realization,” as my dad always said? If you get to be a kid again, have you caught something real about Christmas, even if just for a moment, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12,2,7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3124","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-educational","category-faith_based","category-inspire_lifter"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.awordforthought.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3124"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.awordforthought.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.awordforthought.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.awordforthought.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.awordforthought.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3124"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/www.awordforthought.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3124\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3127,"href":"http:\/\/www.awordforthought.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3124\/revisions\/3127"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.awordforthought.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3124"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.awordforthought.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3124"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.awordforthought.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3124"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}