grow brighter. Why are they slowing down? Don't they know I have some place to go? There are also those green and amber and red lights. There are never enough green lights. The amber means I need to go faster. The red means I really need to rush.
Christmas is all those lights. All of those white and red lights. Thousands of lights all so evenly spaced like beads on a necklace. The white lights I don't pay much attention to. It's those red ones I have to watch for. I hate it when they blink and grow brighter. Why are they slowing down? Don't they know I have some place to go? There are also those green and amber and red lights. There are never enough green lights. The amber means I need to go faster. The red means I really need to rush.
Christmas is the phone calls. All those phone calls people place while sitting at the red lights. Their calls are so important they sit right through the green light and make me sit and wait. They are all the calls that need to be made while walking down the store isle. Can't anyone dial and walk? They have to stop and make me wait behind them while the press the speed dial to the family. I wonder sometimes how they accomplish this sitting in 5000 pounds of metal traveling at 70 miles per hour. But then again. I
really don't want to know.
Christmas is the gifts. Oh so symbolic of the holiday season. I wouldn't be a proper parent at all if I didn't rush all over town to buy all the latest most popular gifts. A wizard for Johnny. A troll for Tom. A demon for Charlie. And that half starved blond doll for Sue. What holiday cheer they will bring. And all the sacrifices I make. Bumping my way through the crowds. Pushing, shoving and fighting for the joy they will bring. All the long lines. And all my free time I have to waste. I'm missing the first half of Suicide Island. But it's all for the little ones that I love so much. These gifts will show the love I have for each of them. I'm sure they will understand. I know they will just love me for the things I buy them.
Is this what Christmas has become? A day to prepare for by rushing around? By putting our desires in front of others, using the excuse that it is for the family or friends? Has Christmas become a time for us to raise our blood pressure? To fry our nerves? To try to convince ourselves we are making sacrifices for others when we are really only thinking of ourselves? A time to drop a quarter in a kettle and think we are actually doing some good in this world?
Christmas began on a trip to Jerusalem. A trip made necessary by a decree to pay one's taxes. A trip that ended on a star filled night. Cold and alone a young couple were rejected by men. A night that was all but over looked. Ellen White tells us this in the Great Controversy.
An angel visits the earth to see who are prepared to welcome Jesus. But he can discern no tokens of expectancy. He hears no voice of praise and triumph that the period of Messiah's coming is at hand. The angel hovers for a time over the chosen city and the temple where the divine presence has been manifested for ages; but even here is the same indifference. The priests, in their pomp and pride, are offering polluted sacrifices in the temple. The Pharisees are with loud voices addressing the people or making boastful prayers at the corners of the streets. In the palaces of kings, in the assemblies of philosophers, in the schools of the rabbis, all are alike unmindful of the wondrous fact which has filled all heaven with joy and praise--that the Redeemer of men is about to appear upon the earth. 314.1
Have we, like those in the City of David on the night the King of the universe was about to appear before all men, become to caught up in our own affairs to remember the meaning? To remember that the first Christmas began with the birth of a tiny innocent infant? Our King born in a stable. Wrapped in rags and laid upon a bed of hay. A bed meant for the beasts that surrounded Him. Why was the Son of God meant to be born among animals and not among the people He came to serve? Would it had been any different if there had been room at the Inn? What would have been the result if Jesus would have been born in a crowed Inn? Would those present have approached Him with the reverence due Him? Would they have known the freedom He represented? Or would they just have crowded around as curiosity seekers? Was it a sign that we need to go to Jesus? That we need to approach Him on the level that He is has come to teach us? That we need to learn from the examples He has set for us? Even though we do not understand them.
What did His eyes see that first day? The very first day Jesus gave up His kingdom and took on the flesh of man. Did He look up to see His mother and his father? Possibly his older half brothers? Did He then look over to see the beasts of burden gathering around to welcome the Redeemer of all mankind? Has this become a sign of the neglect that was to come? Is this world forgetting the purpose of His visitation? Are to many of us rushing away our lives? Trying to be the last ones to find security within the Inn, while our Savior waits patiently outside in the stable. What is it in our lives that keeps us from walking across that court yard to view the picture of salvation?
How could those people of Israel miss the event of the century? The event of all time. It was written out in the scriptures. KJV Micah 5:2. But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting. Even the priests of King Herod found that one. And even the time was foretold by Daniel. KJV Daniel 9:25. Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks: the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times. So what was the problem? Why is it told that there were only 3 "wise" men that could find evidence of this event? Was it the star in the sky? Was it the stories they were told? If others were telling the story of the birth of our Savior, where were they? Or was it the time they had spent with God? Was it the study of the scriptures? And the prayers? We know that only through the guidance of the Holy Spirit can we understand the meaning of the scriptures. Were these 3 wise men a minority on the earth, much like the family of Noah, that listened to the Spirit of God? Were the others far to busy with complaints about the taxes? Complaining about the injustice though out the world and not knowing that the answer was only a few steps away?
Are the excuses still the same today? Not enough time? I thought I already did enough. I'll start tomorrow. Or is it closer to, I'm better then most? Why do we find it so hard to measure ourselves against Christ? Even as a babe? Is that the true reason for replacing the celebration of the birth of Jesus with fables of a giver of material gifts? Has the promises of earthy treasures become more important then the promise of eternal life? Do we really need to commercialize Christmas to a point that we forget we have already been offered a gift we could never pay for? A gift that has no equal.
For some Christmas comes everyday. Everyday we thank God and accept that free gift of forgiveness. And the promise of eternal life. Which one of us would not give everything we own to save a loved one? To save a child? What would we give to save our own lives? There is nothing we can give. That price has already been paid. That gift already given and accepted. The birth of Jesus was only the beginning. The sacrifice complete. And the promise of eternal life has been made sure.
KJV John 17:24. Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me: for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world. 25. O righteous Father, the world hath not known thee: but I have known thee, and these have known that thou hast sent me. 26. And I have declared unto them thy name, and will declare it: that the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them, and I in them.