A gift from God

In a busy modern world, with chaotic lives, so many external pressures and distractions, it is easy to lose sight of the meaning of Christmas, and the hope that it brings.

There’s much talk of Christmas being a time for family and while I was sitting here alone this morning, with my family far away, reflecting that this will be the strangest Christmas ever, I felt that without people around me to make Christmas – for us to “make” it happen – then Christmas was nothing at all.

Of course, that isn’t true.   There are many people who will be alone this Christmas Day and that can be a truly sad, desperate and lonely time.   Christmas crystallises our thoughts into considerations of what life could be like, or should be like, and all that is wrong with our own lives, either by circumstance, design or lack or loss of faith.   My heart reaches out to those people today.  I know how they feel.

But while people can contribute to making a happy festive time, with warm cosy memories to take in to the future with us, people don’t make Christmas special.

What makes this a unique and wonderful occasion for celebrating is the Gift of God.

Whether you are a believer or not, whether you have faith, have lost it or never had it at all, today is about celebrating the power of love, the chance to make changes for the better, to seek forgiveness for the wrongs we have done and indeed for us to forgive ourselves.

This is the gift of God and Christmas is a day to celebrate it, either alone or with friends and loved ones.  And if you have faith, you are never alone, even in the darkest of hours.

Happy Christmas.

About