12 Days of Christmas: 1

By thissmallgroup, December 24, 2019

A Partridge in a Pear Tree

On the first day of Christmas, my true love gave to me….the One. I don’t mean the one that is mentioned in every romantic movie. I mean the One reason why there even is a Christmas celebration. Say the Sunday School answer with me: Jesus!

I will say, when Abby, Hannah and I all divvied up the blog posts for the Twelve Days of Christmas series, when I took this last one, I definitely started to feel the pressure of having to write the big wrap up post about Jesus. I am not a pastor or a theologian; teaching is not one of my primary spiritual gifts. But I think the one thing I can do is just write about what the Christmas story means to me.

Christmas has always been my favorite time of year. I mean, the carols and the decorations, the food and the atmosphere. I’ve always enjoyed the feeling of excitement around Christmas, whether it’s getting to see loved ones or getting to experience fun activities or travel to a new location, there’s so much excitement surrounding the holiday. But then there’s the excitement of getting to celebrate something so incredible and unbelievable.

When was the last time you sat down and truly considered the magnitude of Christmas? Sitting here, writing this blog post, it completely blows my mind every single time I take a moment to really think about it. God, the Creator of the entire universe, everything from massive galaxies to single atoms, loved us so much that He didn’t want to be separated from us. So, He sent His Son to earth, not as a conquering king as everyone thought, but as a baby. And not even the child of a ruler, but the child of a woman from a small town called Nazareth. Can you imagine what it would have been like to be one of the shepherds or one of the wise men or even Mary herself? To set eyes on this little baby who is actually the Son of God. I wonder if any of them had any idea of what would happen. That this little baby would grow up to sacrifice Himself on a cross for all mankind. Maybe not, but I am sure they had a feeling that the birth of this baby would change the course of the entire world forever.

I know it’s easy to get wrapped up in the excitement of Christmas music and decorations and activities. And believe me, I love belting out a Christmas carol as I decorate the tree! But I think all of us need to focus not just on the excitement that comes with the Christmas celebration, but the excitement of why we even celebrate Christmas. We are celebrating the reason behind John 3:16: “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.” We are celebrating the moment God put into motion His plan to save all of mankind, not because we deserved it, but because of how much He loved each of us.

So, I hope each of you have an absolutely wonderful Christmas, full of time with loved ones, delicious food and belting out Christmas carols. But I also pray that it is one where you can take some time to focus on the reason to celebrate Christmas.

-Allie