Happy December 1! Our first day of preparing our hearts for the Birth of The Baby!
Let's fast forward to December 26....364 shopping days left until Christmas!
What do you see? What do you feel? Are you happy it’s all over?
The Day After...
The Day after the wedding...
The day after the vacation...
The day after the first date,
Now what?
What difference did the Birth of The Baby make in your life? Did He keep giving on the day after?
Let’s take a look..at Dec. 26th.....
The Caption: “DID YOU EVER NOTICE HOW ALL THE PRESENTS
ARE FAR MORE INTERESTING BEFORE YOU UNWRAP THEM?
The let down, the emptiness, The SOMETHING is MISSING or are you MISSING SOMETHING?
WHY IS THAT?
First of all, so much of the focus has all been wrapped up in the preparations beforehand, the shopping and the decorations (the coverings of Christmas), which have the power to dim out the light.
But mostly it is the unwrapping of the things which WE BELIEVE will bring, HOPE, PEACE, JOY...
then when it is all said and done, something is missing.
On Dec. 26th, does one package still remain under your tree that was never opened?
Look at the cartoon again. In the corner is a light... where a little package remains...in simple wrapping...
no bells and whistles...untouched, ignored, missed...buried beneath the tinsel and the thistles.
A GIFT WRAPPED with PROMISES which have the POWER to change Dec. 26 and the days after that.
What is the ONE AND ONLY GIFT that delivers on all its promises?
It is all wrapped up in the THE CHRISTMAS STORY. We all KNOW the story, but let’s hear it again from the mouth of a child.
A seeking Charlie Brown seeking for some answers in the midst of commercialism...in the midst of the falalalaling.
Linus answers with The Christmas Story, from Luke 2:8-14.
“For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord."
As Christmas is not about a day, or a season...
It is Beyond December 25...the day after...and the day after that...
It is all about the birth of a Baby in your life.
This Baby is the gift that unwraps
a NEW HOPE, a NEW PEACE, a NEW JOY, into your soul...
This gift that keeps giving..... ONE SIZE FITS all..
ALL people, EVERY circumstance, EVERY emotion...ALL.
All of us... Walking through this life with different stories, yet ALL are OFFERED the same gift.
Have you missed The Baby?
Have you unwrapped The Baby and are being wrapped in it?
Or Have you opened it, and have put it away for a bit (or forgot about it)?
Or Have you heard about the gift, yet don't know really if you opened it or not?
Or Have you not felt a need for this gift?
What difference has The Baby, Christ the Lord, the main character of the Christmas Story, made in your life?
COMMENTS
Joni - Thank you always for pointing us straight to the Lord. He never leaves us - it's us that gets swayed by our daily lists. May He bring all of us closer to Him!
Sharon
I thank you for letting me be on this journey with you and helping me to look at things more deeply.
Dyane Shanahan a month ago Reply 0
I am so glad that we are on the same journey. I am so excited to see what God is going to do in all of lives.
joni
What sweet visual reminders written in thoughtful array for all of us to deeply ponder the Truths of Christmas Day🎆
Donna Hering
I think of Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz. She had the answer to how she would return to Kansas on her feet the whole time...yet took that trip down the crooked yellow brick road in order to finally receive the answer in her heart. With three taps of her shoes and the words, "there is no place like home", she arrives home. How we have the answer too, living in us...yet do we take the crooked yellow brick road instead of plugging into the power within? The power of The Baby, when it is held. So let's pick up The Baby and hold Him all day, and not miss the amazing road that He has paved for us to travel.
Joni Cesarini Jones
Love this! May we all find that missing package this year and forever! You are gifted at writing and communicating God's truth! Thanks for doing this! What a blessing to me!
Doreen