TODAY THE WORDS are WHO ROBBED US OF THE JOY? After watching the fights and the mob mentality of Black Friday, I want to address a theft of the meaning of the upcoming holidays. I will always refer to the wonderful holiday as Christmas but that is not the topic I am referring to in this message. Heaven help us, but I feel most of us have lost what is important and have been robbed of the joy this special season used to have. I am going to go back to a story, and a lot of you who are in their 60’s and older are going to relate to their parents and even some of them hearing this story. We heard our Mother tell of the excitement and anticipation of the fruit roll for their Christmas present. This was in the depression days and fresh fruit was something of a luxury and the child who was next would sit at the end of the room or in the hall and wait for their piece of fruit to come rolling down the floor. They would let out a squeal of excitement as each piece was rolled and each child received his or her reward and we are now fighting over flat screen tvs and computers and willing to go to blows to our fellow man or woman…….Shame on those who do this! No wonder we are in the chaos we are experiencing in this country. Families are being torn apart trying to give what they don’t have and arguments on who gets what; who gets more; who is right and who is wrong and so on and so on. What has gone wrong in this country? Is it we have forgotten the Holy Birthday is the reason for the season? When did a toy, a gift, the whoopla, the parties, the materialistic commercial tackiness which only serves as a greedy maneuver to outshine the next person? I want to remind all of us the reason for Christmas gifts was for the reminder of the Wiseman’s gifts brought to honor Christ’s birth. They brought precious gifts but I believe no matter what the gifts had been; it was the thought of the respect and love they showed to honor Him. This message may not be popular but needs to be relayed; I wish Grinch would come back and steal the commercial Christmas so that we can look for the star of David; the preciousness of a piece of fruit and relish in its delicious taste; to read the birth’s event and memorize the Christmas story; bow our heads and give thanks for His birth and teach our children of the wonder of the season and not what we have to outdo our neighbor but give to those in need. Now for the deeper thought……Will we give as much attention to the real meaning of Christmas with our little ones and our older ones as we give to “camping out like fools” to get a bargain. The truest bargain we will ever receive in this life is the love as quoted in the bible verse listed below. No present will ever compare, so the biggest gift is not at Walmart, Target, K Mart, or any of those stores, but it was given by God sending His Only Son to save us!
DAILY FEATURED BIBLE VERSE:
John 3:16 – King James Bible “Authorized Version”, Cambridge Edition
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
(c) copyright 2013 Arline Lott Miller. The material here copyrighted, use only by permission.
