Fearlessly CourageousDesk of Dennis Piller12 20 2022Click for Audio
It’s not about the presents but the presence we give!
Christmas time is not just about putting an angel on top of your Christmas tree and setting out your nativity scene, but rather coming together to celebrate love, family, and God.The gift of Christmas is not a present we eulogize by buying gifts and placing them under a tree, it is about God himself sending his son We have heard this for so many years it has lost the impact of what that really means. Now, it's….Yeah, everyone knows that… SO? No one says that out loud but live it out loud like they do. God's gift was his very presence bestowed on the world. God's very presence sent to live in every one of us. And if there is a present that comes from that it is the change manifested in each of us making our lives a present to our friends and family changing us into the example of the humility of Jesus himself so we want to give ourselves away. Not just on Christmas but every day, as a way of life. The happy ending to the story of life is we learn about the gift of being present to those all around us so we can give the gift of God's presence to them.
It has never been and will never be about the presents we get…but the presence we give.
We always…always get more than we give! It is truly an unfair reward to the giver. The presence of love and understanding, humility and grace.
Proverbs 11:25 says, “Generous persons will prosper; those who refresh others will themselves be refreshed.” —
What is the spirit of Christmas for you.? Have you changed the Narrative of your life since last Christmas? Can we ask for forgiveness, can we forgive? Where is Christ in your Christmas? Who is your true Love? Or are you still looking?
Can we recognize that what we want and need is in front of us?…right now, and has been there all the time? The holidays help you to see what you haven’t seen before or lost along the way. That should be a recognition of what is important and perhaps even what's eternal.
There is this bubble around the entire Christmas season. It magnifies the good and bad of who we are as people. It magnifies who we want to be but aren't.Magnifies a certain intentionality to be better, to give more, to slow down and smell the roses and make some positive changes.
Christmas also magnifies our loneliness. Someone we have lost or are estranged from. A new home, city, job that we haven't acclimated to yet. The lack of real quality friends in our lives. Or the realization of the friendswe know we shouldn't have in our lives but still do. Suicides are at their peak here as people magnify their own emptiness.
But Christmas deposits a mantle of hope everywhere. It can be a beginning and not the shadows of failure and the end.
The Christ season changes the filter of the world…at least for a little while. “Look among the nations and watch! Be astonished and stare because something is happening in your days that you wouldn’t believe even if told.” — Habakkuk 1:5 Countries declare truces during war. We are homesick for our homes and memories of years gone by. Remembering… those special times that we yearn for again… maybe even ache for. For some, they are but fantasies. But the truth is – Christmas is love! Finding love… appreciating love…
With the people, you love or loved.
It’s a time of re-examining our lives. Christians and non-Christians do a quiet assessment of who am I? And who I want to be. Have I gone astray? We examine who we are with the filter of goodness, kindness, charity, and hope.
What is the spirit of Christmas for you? Did it change your life narrative from last year? Even a little? Advent is about preparing our hearts for the Prince of Peace. Emmanuel, God with us. His presence should change us if we are looking toward eternity even a little. . It's not too late even though Christmas is upon us. God’s Spirit is still here waiting for you to stop and take his outstretched hand “Jesus knew the Father had given everything into his hands and that he had come from God and was returning to God.” — John 13:3
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FZ4JA3YZCj0Shawna Belt Edwards – He is the Gift
