THOUGHTS ON CHRISTMAS 12/18/2002
Madeline L’Engle once wrote, "When we celebrate Christmas we are celebrating that amazing time when the Word that shouted all the galaxies into being, limited all power, and for love of us came to us in the powerless body of a human baby."
"It is good to be children sometimes, and never better than at Christmas, when its Mighty Founder was a child Himself." - Charles Dickens
There is no greater gift than the gift of oneself! "The greatest gift I ever received," said a successful young attorney, "was a gift I got one Christmas when my dad gave me a small box. Inside was a note saying: ‘Son, this year I will give you 365 hours, one hour every day after dinner. It’s yours. We’ll talk about what you want to talk about, we’ll go where you want to go, play what you want to play. It will be your time.’ "My dad not only kept his promise of that gift," he said, "but every year he renewed it – and it’s the greatest gift I ever had in my life, I am the result of his time."
J. Sidlow Baxter once said, "Bethlehem and Golgotha, the Manger and the Cross, the birth and the death, must always be seen together." God’s gift of His Only-Begotten Son was a complete package for us, His children.
On Christmas day, mankind received a small package – wrapped in swaddling clothes, and the promise that came with Him was not for 365 hours, but for 33 of the most difficult years of His life, followed by eternity! Our Heavenly Father gives us ALL of His time, not just an hour after dinner each evening, but every minute of every day from now unto endless ages. If the 365 hours per year that the father of the successful attorney gave to him changed his life for the better, just imagine how much better your life will be if you spend even the same amount of time with the Lord. His gift is ours to use as we choose!