Reflecting On Christmas

"Honor your father and your mother, as the LORD your God has commanded you, that your days may be long, and that it may be well with you in the land which the LORD your God is giving you."
Deuteronomy 5:16 NKJV

My views of Christmas are pretty traditional.  As yet another Christmas has passed, I can reflect on what this newest addition has meant to me and my family.  We all should know by now that the real meaning of Christmas signifies the birth of our Lord and savior the Christ child.  Sent by our LORD God to not only redeem a sinning people, but to reconcile those people back to him.

"For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever beleives in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.  For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved."
John 3:16-17 NKJV

In essence, THIS is the true meaning of Christmas, Gods everlasting love to save us despite ourselves.
I once read somewhere that after Christmas, Easter was one of the two most religious holidays in the world.  Two days out of the year where we traditionaly recognize our Gods presence and celebrate him?   I'm sorry, but even I know that God is not absent from our daily lives those other 363 days!  In my humble opinion, our focus has shifted from a religious Christmas season to a commercial Christmas season.  You can see it in the advertisements leading up to Christmas.  Yes, the tradition of giving and receiving gifts on Christmas is a tradition created by man, but this is what we've locked onto.  I understand that gifts were brought to the Christ child as well, but I believe this was in celebration of our saviors birth.  For it was well known at that time that a savior would be delivered to Gods people.  The prophets had fortold this event.

For unto us a Child is born, Unto us a Son is given; And the government will be upon His shoulder.  Annd his name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
Isaiah 9:6 NKJV

Throughout the Old Testament we see references to the birth of Jesus from Gods Prophets.  This wasn't some last minuute event.  In fact, I'd suggest two radical thoughts here.  God KNEW what our sin condition would be beforehand, therefore he provided for our redemption even before we were created.  THAT is one of the traits of our loving father, that he would  create the entire universe AND ourselves despite knowing that we would eventually need to be rescued from ourselves.  I can't say that I would ever continue with a project knowing I'd need to come back and redo it later.  That's just not in our human nature.  For us it's "work smarter, not harder."  Despite the wonderful work that God has done in and for us, some of us continue to celebrate two religious holidays each year.  Lost in the shopping  sprees, sales, bright lights and maxed out credit cards is the true secret of the season born in Bethlehem so long ago.  I am a huge fan of the old television series MASH.  Go figure, I grew up in the 70's.  To this day I love the antics of Klinger, Hawkeye, Frank Burns, Colonel Potter and the entire bunch.  I'll usually skip most anything just to see another episode.  One particular episode struck a chord with me this Christmas.  As I waited in the emergency room as my mother was being treated for pnemonia, I recalled a episode where Hawkeye and B.J were trying to save the life of a young soldier on Christmas.  This was a race against time as the boy was in pretty bad shape.  Near the end, it was Hawkeyes intent to keep the boy alive by any means possible until the clock struck midnight, so the boys family would not equate Christmas with the death of a son.  Despite their efforts, the boy died about an hour before Christmas ended.  The episode closed with Hawkeye turning the clock in the operating room clock ahead to 12:01, assuring that the boys family would not remember Christmas as a day of mourning.  As I waited in the emergency room this Christmas, that was my prayer.  Lord, don't let this Christmas season be a reminder of my mothers passing.  In my heart, I know He still has plans for her.

~Scott~