Happy Birthday!

Here's some thoughts I wrote on the Holiday. Hope you enjoy.

It’s that time of year again! The hustle and bustle of Christmas. December is the only month I can think of that I cram 3 months worth of activities into 31 all too short days! It’s so easy to get completely overwhelmed with the mad shopping sprees, searching for those perfect gifts for those special someone’s. Getting your heels clipped by another shoppers eager cart, juggling work dinners, church functions , children’s plays, babysitters, family get tog ethers, not to mention wrapping 30 plus odd shaped gifts to jam under the tree all in the name of holiday spirit. This is my Christmas reality and probably yours as well. And it is just exhausting. Not to say that any of these functions are bad or unimportant, because they are. Otherwise we wouldn’t do half of them and really there’s no getting out of them even if we wanted to. You cannot pull the covers up over your head and let December pass you by so this Holiday Season I am challenging all of you and myself a few things. First, live in the present. No I’m not talking about when you are up to your neck in wrapping paper and you feel like you’ll never tackle the complex job of wrapping all those presents. I’m saying when your watching your child or grand children decorate the tree, instead of making mental to do lists I challenge you to sit back and really take the precious sight in. Even taking this thought a step further , try your best to not only live in the present, but also to Stay in His Presence. The word presence and presents sound very much alike but one is entirely different from the other, and although both are talking about gifts one has a price tag and the other is priceless. His presence will take us through anything with peace and keep our eyes on what its really all about anyway. I got to thinking about my friends this past year whose birthdays fell on a holiday, everyone always says it stinks to have a birthday fall on a holiday and of course the worst would be Christmas because you would get overlooked. There is a important thought in that statement. No one wanted their birthday on Christmas because in all the business of doing the Christmas norm you wouldn’t receive the acknowledgement you desired being that it’s your day. This holiday season I pray we all remember who’s day Christmas really belongs to, tuck it away in your heart and cherish Jesus for the amazing blessing He is. Live in the present, stay in His presence and keep in mind that when you strip all the “stuff” surrounding Christmas away, all that truly remains is a baby in a manger, the Savior of our world.