Light of the world

Today, and the days leading up to Christmas, I reflect on what Christmas really means to me. It is a celebration of joy, peace, the birth of our amazing Savior. His birth means more to me now than it ever has because I have strengthened my walk in Christ over the last two years. Still I am far from who He wants me to be, I strive to welcome Him into our home on a daily basis.

I think about Mary, the mother...how she must have felt carrying the Son of God. Did she feel inadequate, was she scared half to death with the responsibility she had growing in her womb? Was she more confident than the rest of us knowing that she was chosen specifically to carry the Holy One? And Joseph, what a man of God, to trust that the woman he was going to marry was carrying a child that was not his. His faith and trust in God carried him in a world that would have never accepted a pregnant, unwed woman. The looks and whispers he must have received. Together they eagerly awaited the birth of their son, only to be turned away and forced to bring their child into the world surrounded by hay and animals...such a lowly birth for a king.


It is this story that fills my heart with joy and it saddens me to know that there are still people who don't believe this happened. To those of you I ask, why do you celebrate Christmas, or for what reason? What is your definition of Christmas or what definition do you go by? Do you just ignore that the first five letters in the word spell Christ? What songs do you sing at Christmastime? Help me to understand because even though we didn't attend church regularly when I was little, my mom always helped us to remember that it was Christ's birth that we were really celebrating. I can't imagine celebrating a holiday without going by the true meaning of the reason it's on the calendar.