The Reason for the Season

The entire reason for Christmas is the love of God. God loves you so much that he came to earth as a human so you could get to know him and learn to trust him and love him back. Theologians call this the Incarnation. God became one of us, a human being, so we could understand what he is really like.

One potential problem of our annual Christmas celebrations is that many people only think of Jesus as a baby! Their conception of him is only as a helpless newborn in his mother's arms. If Jesus had never grown up to do what he did, he'd have no power to transform our lives.

But the baby born in Bethlehem did not stay a baby. Jesus grew to manhood, modeled for us the kind of life that pleases God, taught us the truth, paid for every sin we commit by dying on a cross, then proved that he was God and could save us by coming back to life. This is the Good News. When the Romans nailed Jesus to a cross, they stretched his arms as wide as they could. With his arms wide open, Jesus was physically demonstrating, "I love you this much! I love you so much it hurts! I'd rather die than live without you!" The next time you see a picture or statue of Jesus with outstretched arms on the cross, remember, he is saying, "I love you this much!"

-Rick Warren

Above is an excerpt from Rick Warrens, Purpose for Christmas. As I was sitting at my house today enjoying all the joys that come from spending a day at home, I was thinking about what Christmas means in my family. As this book talks about and as many families today exist to think about what the meaning of Christmas is, it usually has nothing to do with Jesus, or what he did for us, or why we celebrate Christmas. My dad always makes a point around Christmas to say something along the lines, "let us not forget this is a season of giving". And he is right, it is a season of giving and my dad is one of the most generous selfless givers I know, so without hesitation he embraces this season, much like I do. He loves the decorating, the music, the presents, all the christmas paraphernalia- he wore a tree tie to church. But yet we are still missing that key ingredient.

This excerpt from Warrens book, paints that picture of Jesus on the cross with his arms stretched out wide, saying I love you this much. Remember that book with the bunny, called I love you this much, and you stretch out your arms when you read it to kids. I don't know if anyone ever had that book read to them, or have ever read it to anyone. My grandmother used to read it to me, and I have read it to the boys a few times, but it never fails you always stretch out your arms as far as you can when you read it as if to encompass all of your love for that person in the space between your arms. That's what I picture Jesus doing, encompassing all the love and all the hurt in his arms.

I am not sure how I ended up where I did, but simple fact is the reason for the season is God's love for you.

Faith Hill says in that precious song, "Where are you Christmas?, If you have love in your heart and your mind, then you will have Christmas all the time." She is right too. It's like my dream come true, Christmas all the time, but it's true. Christmas is a celebration of God's love, a celebration that we live out and see everyday, but it's a celebration for that! The stores, the music, the ads, the presents, the tree, thats all for our pure enjoyment, and yet we let it cause us so much stress and it fills the void for those that don't know God's love.

My family put Christmas in a box, packed it up last year, dusted it off today, and unpacked it, but we all know thats not how it should be. Because even after we unpacked it, things were the same as they were when it was in the box. So clearly that is not the answer....

You can't put Christmas in a box, or capture love in the space between your arms, but you can share God's love and the Christmas spirit.

So with love in your heart and in your mind today, share the christmas spirit with whomever you come in contact with today and the next day...and enjoy the beauty of this holiday!!

I love the Christmas season but I love each of you more and well you all know how much I love the season!

Just little elf me sending you some Christmas spirit!

Love Caroline