December 2021

Twas’ the night before Christmas, and I was preparing for the next day. And I reflect on the many Christmases of yesterday.

Gifts wrapped for loved ones’ giddy for the big day, only to find themselves in a different place today.

Aging, trials, and the storms of life could bring a frown, but it is on this night where God’s gift anchors us down.

Giving and receiving gifts, so good and so grand. However, I would exchange them for current relationships I can count on both hands.

I certainly have not mastered listening, talking, and sitting still, but they are truly the gifts in which I will be fulfilled.

The clock keeps ticking, as morbid as it sounds. Christmas year after year may not be like before, and the people I hold dear are the treasure I have found.

I look at my life and another Christmas day not found online or in a store. I rest in the gift of God’s Son, a gift of grace that holds me close, a gift to endure.

Life is not always easy, and things sure do change. But that baby in the manger where God became flesh, remains.

It gives one the confidence that there is nothing to fear. For what started in a manger and went to cross made from a tree, is now risen and victorious for you and me.

It is the night before Christmas and before you lay your head down, know that Jesus is with you, in whatever may go down.

Matthew 1:23 “Look! The virgin will conceive a child! She will give birth to a Son, and they will call Him Immanuel, which means God is with us.”

Merry CHRISTmas,

Pastor Rich