Mary and I want to wish all our family and friends a very Merry Christmas and pray that they will have a blessed New Year. The Lord has blessed us with a loving family, sons, daughters, sons-in-laws, daughters-in-laws and a host of grandchildren and great-grandchildren and a host of good friends. What a joy they all are. They all acknowledge that we are celebrating the birth of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. I previously posted a story I wrote back in December of 2011 about the reasons I love Christmas and will post it again on this day of celebration. Again, Merry Christmas to you all. The Reasons I Love Christmas by Grady R Stone December 18, 2011 I love Christmas. I love the sights of Christmas; the twinkling lights decorating the eves and rooftops of the houses in my neighborhood, the lights strung around the Christmas trees, the buildings downtown adorned with thousands of colored bulbs, the bows and ribbons adorning the colorfully wrapped gifts under the tree, the garland draped across the mantels, and the wreaths hanging on the doors of the homes we visit. I love the sounds of Christmas; the carols being sung in my church and being broadcast on the radio, the old Christmas classics being replayed on the TV that I have seen numerous times, but never grow tired of, the sounds of laughter of friends and family I haven’t seen since last Christmas, and the telling of stories of past Christmases. I love the smells of Christmas; the delicious fragrance of pies, cakes, cookies and candies being prepared; the mouth watering aroma of the hams and turkeys wafting from the kitchen, making my stomach growl in anticipation of the upcoming feast. I love the remembrances of Christmases past; my first bicycle; a special kind of cap pistol where the cylinder swung out and I could place a disk of caps in it almost like a real western pistol, Tinker Toys, Erector Sets, a Daisy Red Rider BB gun, fruit, nuts, and candy in my stocking – (really a long work sock of my Dad’s). In later years - putting together toys for my kids, and my wife telling me I was going to wake them, because I had to see the train race along the track with sparks and smoke coming from the stack of the engine, the contagious excitement of my children tumbling from their beds and rushing to see what Santa had left for them under the tree. I love Christmas. I would have loved to have been there at that first Christmas: To look in that manger and behold the gift the Lord had given the world, to touch the tiny hands so soft and pink, to see His little feet kicking the swaddling clothes from around his body, to cradle His small head adorned with downy hair. Oh, what a precious sight! Can you see it? Can you see the shepherds gathered around to see the babe the angels had proclaimed to them earlier while they were tending their sheep in the fields? Can you see in your minds eye the awe and splendor of it all? Can you see it? Now, if you look closely behind the stable you will see the shadow of a cross being cast over the scene. This shadow was placed on the horizon many years earlier due to Adam and Eve’s rebellion in the Garden. Why would such a cruel shadow be cast over this wonderful sight of the birth of this innocence babe? Because of you and me. You see, if those tiny, soft hands had not grown into the calloused hands of a carpenter and then nailed to that cruel rough cross with iron spikes, then I would have had to die in my sins. If those little feet had not matured into the feet of a traveling teacher and healer that walked those dusty Judean roads and then were also pierced with an iron spike, you would have had to die in your sins. If that beautiful downy head had not had a crown of thorns pushed cruelly and viciously onto His tanned and furrowed brow, the world would have had to die in its sins. It’s impossible to look at the manger and not realize that a cross was in the future. The one and only reason that Christ arrived in that manger was to die on that cross. Does that horrible outline of the cross diminish my joy and celebration of Christmas? No, not one bit – it actually enhances and intensifies my feelings about Christmas. I love Christmas! Don’t you? Share with your friends that do not know the full meaning of that wonderful scene at that Bethlehem manger. Give them the chance to appreciate this season of joy and thanksgiving so that they will also come to love Christmas even more than they do now.
Posted on: Thu, 25 Dec 2014 19:23:19 +0000
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