Despite what you’re reading and hearing these days, this season of the year isn’t about Black Fridays or Cyber Mondays. I bring you sincere Christmas greetings and a friendly reminder of the real reason for this season and how it all began.
Amid the trappings and the wrappings, as we rush to buy our gifts and mail our cards, let’s remember what happened on that first Christmas morning. The trappings were a stable in Bethlehem, and the wrappings were swaddling clothes that became the royal garments of the Infant King. The gift: Jesus Christ, the Son of God, made flesh.
I keep a permanent reminder of that event taped to my desk. It’s a picture a friend sent me a couple of years ago. It depicts a small, roughly made wooden crib, or manger, symbolizing the one in which the infant Christ first lay his head. It’s captioned: “The Very First King-Size Bed.” To me, it’s indeed a picture worth a thousand words.
In my quote collection, I have hundreds of wonderful selections about Christmas, and what it means. Among my favorites is this one by the late pastor and author R. Eugene Sterner: “Christmas is when God came down the stairs of Heaven with a Baby in His arms.”