Thanksgiving is long past now. Black Friday is in the memory books. Cyber Monday has come and gone. What does it all mean? It is now officially the Christ mas season. We can now look and behold the all the Christ mas decorations that are up all over town. Not just town but every neighborhood, park downtown business and just about everywhere you go… Christmas decorations!
As I write this article on November 29th, my wife is at home, digging and sorting out Christmas decorations to put in and around the house. Literally every room in our house will have some reminder of the season of the year it is.
One tote in particular is a very large one with nothing but Christmas tree decorations in it. There are the traditional decorations of snowflakes, bells, candy canes and the Christmas balls. The lights this year are the clear colored rather than the colored. I think they are in the nontwinkling mode. Then, we have the decorations that highlight the particular year (been doing this so long we could just use those to decorate the tree). Oh, and then there are the kids’ decorations that they made at school or church. The decorations always make for a beautiful tree.
Saturday afternoon we had a group that came and met at the church with the intended purpose of decorating the church. It is the traditional greenery (everlasting life), lights (Jesus, light of the world), a tree (symbolizing the cross for crucifixion), some poinsettias, wreaths, holly, bows, candy canes and, of course, a Manger or two will be put out.
Christmas parties have been scheduled and preparations are being made for them. A list has been started that consist of gifts to be bought for kids, friends, family or others in our circle. Boxes of Christmas cards have been bought with the task of signing them, adding a personal note and then addressing, stamping and sealing then up to mail them off.
Soon we will be get-ting a note from the school giving us the details for the children’s (and grandchildren’s) Christmas programs. Children’s Christmas programs will be on the agenda as well. Maybe, some will even go caroling at the Nursing Home, local shut-ins or just various places around town.
The television has now become inundated with the Christmas Hallmark Movies, the traditional Christmas shows (Frosty, Rudolph, It’s a Wonderful Life, etc) and even the sit-coms will be setting up for their Christmas show. Even the talk shows have a special edition for a Christmas show.
So what does all this mean? Why am I going on endlessly about the obvious?
Well, it’s Christmas. When this comes out in the paper it will be the 6th of December, only 19 days until Christmas. The signs of its coming are, literally, everywhere. Wherever we look, Christmas is there. What we hear on the radio, Christmas songs. Commercial advertisements on TV, radio, internet, Facebook, everywhere!
Not that any of this is a bad thing. Christmas is called the most wonderful time of the year, isn’t it? It is a reminder of the greatest gift ever given, Jesus as Savior of world!
My point to writing this is only that all we have to do now is wait. We wait for the grand day to appear, December 25th! For some of us it will come all too soon and for others (children) it will take what seems like forever to get here. Regardless of which camp you are in, we are in the waiting mode. We know it is coming so we just X off the days on the calendar and know that Christmas is soon to come.
It reminds me of another group who waited, also. Almost two millennia ago, the people were waiting for the birth of the Messiah. It had been almost 400 years since anything had been heard. The prophets told of a coming day. The people knew it would be soon, possibly any day. They waited and so we wait.
So, as you travel, shop, go about your daily business and see all the Christmas reminders around you, know that Christmas is almost upon us. Just like the people almost 2,000 years ago waited with the signs of Messiah’s birth all around, so we wait. Except today, we wait and celebrate the event that has already happened while those two millennia ago waited for event to happen.
Keeping Jesus the Reason for the Season, Bro. Tim
