I have grown quite accustom to the heat of Florida, but dealing with the heat all year really allows me to appreciate the slightly less-warm, kinda-cold on a good day, winter season. But for some reason, this year felt different. And at first I thought it was just because it didn’t physically feel cold outside. I mean we were averaging 80 degrees in the middle of December…. But I think it was really because for the first time, I felt Jesus calling out at me, asking me, “What do you think Christmas stands for?” And for the longest time, I never gave my God the glory he deserved. Christmas to me and to a lot of us came or comes in stages. As a kid, it is the most exciting time of the year, (only contested by our birthday) to receive the best new things that we’ve been watching and asking for. As we grow up, we learn that it’s more about giving than receiving, love, joy and many other attributes that Jesus brought with him to show us. I’m not saying we shouldn’t associate these things with Christmas, but to understand what lies at the core. I was missing out on the bigger picture, and it’s so simple. All those things were given to us by God through Jesus who was born on this day and I have learned that Christmas is a time we received the greatest gift anyone could give, our God with us, Emanuel. This brought me to no other conclusion but to turn and praise my Father in heaven! He gave his very son, who came in Godly invincibility to evil, sin, and death, yet still experienced this world as we do, overcoming satan, breaking the binds of sin, and conquering the grave. Christmas will be forever changed in my mind, heart, soul, and household. As I have learned that there is only one gift that is truly important on Christmas morning, one that lasts all year long, and forever more. The gift of God with us.
