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These first days of the Christmas season are among my favorite of the year. At this point, we have enjoyed the additional special gatherings of Advent and the beautiful Christmas Eve services. We have wished family and friends Christmas greetings. We have contemplated God’s love in choosing to be born among us as a baby.
Hopefully, we have not stopped the contemplations and celebrations in these first days of Christmas, but likely we’re doing them differently. For our family, some of these days are given to spending time with extended family that we did not get to see before Christmas. We are also enjoying less programmed time.
This week, I was thankful to, with our son’s assistance, finally, repair our fence latch and clean leaves out of the gutter. Those aren’t birth-of-Jesus related, but thanks to the celebration of his birth, we were home together and could knock a few things off the list that had been nagging me. We could have done it anytime of the year, but it’s Christmas that afforded us that time.
I hope you are finding some additional gifts in your Christmas time, such as those. Maybe it’s muting the bowl game and playing a card or board game with family or friends. Maybe it’s recognizing that you have more cookies than you can eat and your neighbor might be hungry for cookies or a friendly visit and inviting your neighbor over to share a bite.
You might have been among the generous and faithful servants of Christ who honored his birth by helping with the community Christmas dinner, or you might be one of the generous ones who honored him by giving to the Christmas Eve offering so that two homes can be built in Guatemala, and ramps can be built for, and meals delivered to, members of our community. Maybe you’re making sure your year-end gift gets to Belin Memorial so that we can finish the year strong and be well-positioned to minister on behalf of Christ in the new year. Thank you to all who have been part of supporting these important ministries.
As you consider how to finish this year, I hope it will include making progress on some project, some time with loved ones you don’t always get time for, some gesture of kindness to your neighbor, giving in a way that will bless others, and worshiping with Belin Memorial on Sunday.
Doing all, or even most, of that would surely be good ways to celebrate the first week of Christmas and prepare for a happy new year!
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