Every year we wait in joyful anticipation for the Christmas
season and for Christmas day. That is the one day that the entire world
recognizes and celebrates one way or the other, everyone in their one unique
and special way. We celebrate the birth of our Lord and saviour, the mighty
King, our Lord JESUS CHRIST. His birth is celebrated by all, and I don’t care
about those living in denial about his birth and him being the son of GOD, I
know without a shadow of a doubt that he is!!! If you put up a Christmas tree,
decorate your home with tinsel, garlands and stuff, buy and receive gifts, say
merry x-mas or whatever you chose to say, sing Rudolph the red nose reindeer or
any other alternative Christmas songs, you are acknowledging the birth of JESUS
and I thank you ever so much.
The conception of Lord was announced by the angel Gabriel.
For us humans, mothers usually find out about their pregnancy through tests by
doctors and easily accessible test kits, so from the very start, we know his
birth was special. When his birth was imminent his earthly parents had to
travel far because of a census.
Because there was no room at the inn, he was
born in a manger in the stable, in the humblest of places among the livestock.
Angels announced his birth to the nearby shepherds! There was a celebration in
heaven! All of this recounted in the Bible, but I love the one told in the Gospel
of Luke 1 and 2 the best.
He was given gifts by wise men that came to worship him from
the east. They knew and recognized his birth and the gifts of gold,
frankincense and myrrh had special significance. Gold symbolizes his divinity
that he was GOD in flesh, Frankincense symbolizes his holiness and
righteousness and his willingness to sacrifice himself for us and Myrrh which
is a spice used for embalming, symbolizes his suffering, affliction and death.
Wow, I wonder what Mary was feeling at that time. Did she
fully grasp his significance and the impact he was going to make on the world?
Or did she just celebrate the birth of her healthy baby boy and trust that GOD
has it all in control and so make the most of the moment. We all know how the
story of our Lord developed and ended, but today we are celebrating!!
We are thankful that JESUS was born and that is why it is
called Christmas. His birth brought hope to us. His birth showed us the love
GOD has for us! It is the reason for the season. It is why we look forward to
this day.
Happy, Happy Birthday King JESUS!!
Merry Christmas everyone!! And i leave you with this song "when a child is born"
Bright lights, bright garlands and wreaths. Brightly
illuminated and beautiful Christmas trees. Packed shops, mall Santa’s, bustling
shops and shoppers. Letters to Santa, TV, internet ads, leaflets and brochures
through letterboxes. Yes, Christmas is here. Actually, these signs started as
early as the end of summer vacation, if not earlier. Everything depicts the
sumptuous time that everyone be having or is it really everyone celebrating and
having a great time? Even if you are blind, you could not miss these signs. But
for the needy, those without family or friends this is a nightmare season. What
do you tell a child that have written to Santa, expecting all these great stuff
and all the parent can give is either some candy and a sandwich for the day,
and these are the luckier ones.
I watched a movie the other day, in which a reporter was
asked to write an article about Christmas from the perspective/experience of
the needy/homeless person and she did not know where to start.
From my perspective, for the needy and homeless, this season
is all about levels of hopes and dreams. For some, after hoping and dreaming
for so long, they give up, have low or zero expectations and often resort to
less conventional means. If you live in the western hemisphere, this time of
the year is usually very cold and if you are living on or below the poverty
level, added to the hunger and inability to pay bills, you are freezing if even
you have a home, and all the excitement of the holidays just reminds you of
your situation.
This time of the year is usually hard for a lot of people,
including people working on minimum wages and the unemployed. And with the
extreme commercialization of Christmas, a lot of people are pressured into gift
buying, leading to debts, having to buy gifts for loved ones and family
members, and there is really no room to think about anyone else.
The reporter in the movie wanted to know how the needy and
homeless celebrate Christmas when they have no money. Well, from my real life
experience, it’s not that easy, but not that bad either, it all depends on your
priorities. For many years, we had what we thought were wonderful Christmases,
everything was planned with precision, gifts, drinks, groceries were bought in
abundance. We gave to charities, cards to neighbors and gifts to the necessary
people, and then the tests and hard times arrived. For a few years, with just
one income, we were just able to get just what was necessary for the holidays.
We bought practical and necessary gifts, such as a pair of
sneakers to replace the busted ones, hats and gloves to be warm. Then we hit an
all time low last year. I had lost my job in July, and with no form of income,
but for the kindness of some saints, we would have starved. We started making plans
for an alternative Christmas. We were facing eviction as we could not pay our
rent, thank GOD for the angel that he sent to help with the rent.
We were able to make minimum payments on the electricity bill
and thank GOD that our apartment supplied free heating and hot water, but with
our inability to pay our phone/TV/internet bills, we were disconnected. At
least we had a radio and my daughter’s cell phone, so we did not lose
communication completely and we had bought an artificial tree a couple of years
ago, so we decorated that. It was such a joy to turn the lights on daily and
watched our tree.
During this time, we never ceased praying, we did not lose
hope, we trusted and believed GOD and held on to his word as the word of GOD in
Luke 12:24 says “consider the ravens,they neither sow nor reap....” if he feeds
them, he will do the same for us. We believed that GOD will provide what we
need!!
We watched the neighbors coming home with their boxes of
gifts, tons of groceries and Christmas goodies. We listened to people around us
talking about their plans for Christmas with their families and friends, then
go home, prayed and meditate some more. We actually found joy from the simplest
things such as the decorated houses and shops. We listened to K-LOVE radio station
and we were ministered to by the songs, and testimonies that we heard from
other listeners, artists and staff. We went to church and fellowshipped with
other believers.
On the 23rd of December at the penultimate minute,
we were blessed by a couple of women of GOD with a $100.00. Twenty went towards
my daughter’s cell phone, ten towards transportation and the rest towards food.
We had a ride and did grocery shopping early Christmas Eve, came home and we
both went down with the Flu (how ironic), although my daughter was worse than
me. I managed to make chicken soup and we were able to eat that with some
potatoes and rice.
For the first time ever, we were unable to buy a gift for
each other, not even a candy cane, and there was no gift under the tree! But
GOD reminded us that that our gift cannot be packaged. He gave us his one and
only son, our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, what more can we ask for! This was
so true. We had a roof over heads, we had each other, and we had the Joy and
Peace of The Lord. We were Blessed and that’s all that mattered! That's how us as needy/poor people spent our Christmas, as we had hope and we realized that Christmas was all about our Lord Jesus's Birth. He was born for our salvation. now that's worth celebrating!
At this time of the year I give thanks to GOD for all the
Saints, Angels and Samaritans out there who are trying their very best to make
a difference in the lives of the needy out their, providing hot meals, toys for
the kids, festive shoe boxes, accommodations for the homeless to get them to
somewhere warm and all the countless things you all do to make life better for
others.
You do make a difference; your efforts are appreciated and have not
gone unnoticed. Families out there that would otherwise have not got anything
are being Blessed by your efforts and your kindness. GOD Bless you all!!
So let us all be thankful and celebrate the Birth of our Lord
and Saviour JESUS CHRIST regardless of our individual circumstances!
