A Continual Christmas

"A good conscience is a continual Christmas." - Benjamin Franklin

            Why is it that I love the Christmas season so much? I mean, it seems as if eleven months of the year I lay dormant, waiting in great expectation for those four weeks or so between Thanksgiving and Christmas Day dubbed the ‘Christmas Season’. By the time it finally arrives I am nearly bursting at the seams with excitement and anticipation, but to my dismay, just as quickly as it comes, it’s already over. If that weren’t bad enough, I find that it flies by faster and faster every year, leaving me to again wonder: What is it that makes this time of the year so exciting? Well, the obvious answer is that Christmas is a day that marks the birth of my lord and savior Jesus Christ, without whom I would have no hope of life after death. “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16) But this is something I already think about and give praise for everyday, so what makes December so special?

            I think I would be remiss if I ignored the joy of generosity that also accompanies the Christmas Season. While this is easy to overlook as a Christian due to the widespread secularization of the holiday and its ever-growing association with buying stuff, I still believe it is an important part of the Christmas spirit. After all, was not Jesus God’s gift to the entire world? The Bible is about love, and love fosters humility and generosity in man. So in a way, I suppose the root of Christmas is really love. But are love and generosity things that I should save up all year only to express in the dead of winter? Of course not! They are things that I should extend year round as a constant reminder of God’s great gift to me. “But my life is worth nothing unless I use it for doing the work assigned me by the Lord Jesus- the work of telling others the Good News about God’s wonderful kindness and love… You should remember the words of the Lord Jesus: ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.” (Acts 20:24, 35) Therefore, the Christmas Season is not something that I should live only one month out of every year. Rather, it should be something that I live to the fullest everyday: praising the Lord for his grace and extending that grace and generosity to everyone I meet. In this way, the joy and excitement of Christmas will never fade.

            Dear Heavenly Father, I just want to thank you for this time of the year in which I get to celebrate the birth of your son and my Savior, Jesus Christ. I pray though Lord that I would not only give praise and thanks for this, and all the blessings in my life, just on designated dates and holidays, but rather that you would have me live my life every single day in a way that gives all the praise and glory to you. Please help me to live generously, humbly, lovingly… Let others see these characteristics in me, but instead of attributing them to me, I pray Lord that they would see them come from you and that they would in turn praise you from whom all blessings flow. Thank you Jesus, and in your holy name I pray, Amen.