Well, it’s Christmas Eve! Am I the only person like ‘That was quick?!’ Here we are at the end of the year and it feels like Valentine’s Day was yesterday. Anywho, regardless Christmas is my favorite time of the year! The Temptations Christmas album, tons of family time and memories, great food and thoughtful gifts…people are just in an overall better mood (and we can use that in this day and age!). But clearly, we know what this is ALL about. What’s the cliché phrase…JESUS IS THE REASON FOR THE SEASON!!! As I get older and more reflective, that phrase becomes less and less cliché.

We were discussing with our oldest the meaning of Christmas and she made a very profound statement for her little 5 year old self. She told us that she believes we exchange gifts at Christmas time to remember the wonderful gift that God gave us in Jesus. Now clearly, that’s not how she said it but that was the gist LOL! Think about it…isn’t that so amazing? God thought so much of us to give us the PERFECT gift. A gift that is unblemished…a gift that can’t break, be lost or stolen…a gift that no matter how hard Satan tries to take it from us, he CAN’T! Can you think of a better gift? That’s the question we posed to Farrah. And as she tried to think of something, she was left puzzled because she couldn’t think of anything!

That is what Jesus means to me and dare I say this is the mindset that we must continue to remind ourselves to have! Just like that child on Christmas morning racing downstairs to tear into her gifts…the excitement and anticipation followed by the satisfaction of receiving what you asked for and a lot of the times what you wanted/needed but didn’t know that you wanted/needed. It’s something about receiving a gift that you didn’t necessarily ask for but once you get it, you think ‘This is the best thing ever! I would have never thought of this for myself!” I have a phrase I say a lot, “You don’t know what you don’t know.” But isn’t that what Jesus is to us? He offers so much more than we could ever imagine. I’m reminded of the scripture:

“Taste and see that the Lord is good. Oh, the joys of those who take refuge in him!” Psalm 34:8 NLT

What a magnificent gift to receive! So…as you are enjoying your holiday, let’s try to remember the ULTIMATE gift that we have in Jesus and how awesome of a Father that God is to give us the very thing that we didn’t even know we needed! Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!!!