Here we are again friends…

Today  many of us think back to Christmases long ago. We start to get nostalgic for the smells, friends and songs of yesteryear.

Take a moment today to embrace gratitude. For many of us, Christmas becomes not a time of celebration, but of dread.

I want you to know that you are not alone. Today,  I challenge you to be kind to yourself and live in love and gratitude. Know that Christmas is about the one gift each one of us gets today. It’s a gift that comes whether we deserve it or not.

It is the gift of love.

In the feast of Christmas we celebrate present realities – Jesus Christ our redeemer who reigns in heaven and who also lives and reigns in our hearts through the gift and working of the Holy Spirit. And we commemorate past events – the birth of the newborn Messiah King and his manifestation to Israel and to the gentile nations. We thank and bless God for the way in which he has saved us from the power of sin and the curse of death and destruction by sending his son to ransom us and give us pardon and abundant life through the gift and working of the Holy Spirit.

Today we celebrate the birthday of our King and Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.

God wants to fill our hearts anew with joy and gratitude for the greatest gift he could possibly give us – his beloved Son Jesus. What can we give thanks for in this great feast of the Incarnation? We can praise and thank God our Father for the fact that the Son of God freely and joyfully assumed a human nature in order to accomplish our salvation in it.

Jesus came to release the captives from slavery to sin and to open the gates of paradise once again. Those doors were opened for you and me.

That is something to be grateful for and that is the real gift of today.

Merry Christmas to you and yours. May this day be filled with blessings beyond measure.- Oretha