Nov. 22, 2007
The Joy of Christmas
Posted in Growing in the Lord
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The Joy of Christmas
I can still see the four of us sitting around the kitchen table. Three generations of women - though I was just a girl - making Christmas memories just as surely as we were making popcorn and cranberry garlands for the tree. "Joy to the world! the Lord is come!" we sang out together as we worked. Little did I know what the words meant, what they would come to mean to me in later years. I only knew that singing all the verses to all the carols was a feat envied by many of my friends. I didn't know they envied me the time with my family as well.
My Nana would get up to make more popcorn while my mom and my aunt would argue good-naturedly about which verse came next. I would simply concentrate on the pattern - two popcorn, one cranberry - and on not poking myself with the needle. I always thought that my strand was the longest and prettiest. It took me years to realize that my aunt would tie hers to the end of mine when I wasn't looking! "Joy to the earth! the Savior reigns; Let men their songs employ!" These songs would stay with me, long after my family was separated by miles and more. We went through some dark times.
I was not raised in a Christian home - far from it. Seeds of rebellion were planted early and blossomed into unhealthy fruit. Although it was many years before I walked with the Lord, He always walked with me. There are so many moments I can look back on and see His hand directing, shaping - patiently waiting. "No more let sins and sorrows grow!" It wasn't until I had a family of my own that I went searching. Oh, at first I was not searching for Christ, but only for the echoes of those warm Christmas memories. But where else would they lead but to Him who is at the center of it all?
It was a blustery December day when I stepped into the waters of the baptismal. Into the darkness of my cold November heart, the warmth and light of the Savior had come shining. On that second Sunday of Advent, as I professed Jesus as my Lord and Savior, I couldn't help but think back to those earlier Christmas seasons. "He rules the world with truth and grace!" I am so thankful that even though I had not known it at the time, the Lord had spent years preparing my heart to receive Him.
This Advent season, as you are making memories with your loved ones - or reliving memories of those that have gone on - never lose sight of the joy of the Lord's coming! |
Comments
Nov. 21, 2007 - Untitled Comment
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Posted by Kelli Nov. 27, 2007 - Untitled Comment
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