“And the angel said unto them, ‘Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy,
which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David
Often the luminarias on the church behind our house would burn all night long. For 14 years we had the gift of a beautiful Christmas display right outside our windows. Some of my favorite memories are of those years when our children were small, looking out at the beautiful sight as we read our children about the real “Yuletide treasure,” the Christmas story from the Bible, and tucked them into bed.
Once we were alone my husband and I could finish our preparations and sit down with a cup of tea to relax. There with “the blazing yule before us” we enjoyed the softly glowing lights of a New Mexico
Our Christmas Eve’s are usually filled with opportunities to “strike the harp and join the chorus” with fellow believers at church before heading out to look at lights and walk through Old Town
What “yuletide treasure” do you share with your family and friends as Christmas approaches? Is it the fun of The Night Before Christmas, or the moving story of the birth of Jesus Christ? Don’t get me wrong, we did our share of reading the story of the “jolly old elf,” but our kids always knew that Jesus was real and the rest just a story.
Last year a friend lay dying all through the Christmas season. This year it is a friend of my son’s, twenty-five years old and facing imminent death. It brings everything into clearer focus as we realize that the birth of Jesus Christ is not something to only think about at Christmas, with a tree and nativity scene for decorations. It’s the whole point. Nothing else matters if you don’t get the real Christmas story right all year.
If you knew this was your last Christmas season, what would you need to know? What would you want made clear to your family and friends?
Chose to make the “Yuletide treasure” of the story of Jesus a gift to everyone you know—a gift which doesn’t end with the season but lasts a lifetime. Let your treasure be “the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger” who was to give His life on a cross at Easter that our sins might be forgiven.
Copyright by Norma Gail Thurston-Holtman & 2MefromHim Ministries, 2011. All rights reserved. Do not use without permission of author.
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