Christmas!

Sigh... I love this time of year!! I love seeing all of the Christmas lights around town and hearing all of the Christmas music in the stores and in the car. However, thing I love the most about this time of year is that for a couple weeks out of the year people are really striving to look outside themselves and serve others. It seems like people are striving more to understand Christ and be more like Him, and that really is what Christmas is all about.
I love reading the Bible story of Jesus Christ's birth in Bethlehem. His mother, Mary, and her soon-to-be husband Joseph were on their way to pay their tax. Mary was great with child and "because there was no room for them in the inn" (Luke 2:7) she had baby Jesus in a stable, and laid him in a manager. At the birth of the Savior, shepherds, came from their fields to worship the Him. These shepherds had been steadfastly watching over their flocks when an angel of the Lord appeared to them and gave them "good tidings of great joy" (Luke 2:10). This angel told them that that day, a babe had been born in the city of David. Or more specifically, a Savior had been born into the world. After the shepherds heard the heavenly host singing praises to God they went searching after this baby.
There also came three wise men from the east, bearing gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. I'm grateful for their gifts, but my mind causes me to reflect on the gift that the shepherds gave. They didn't bring any material items to give to the baby, but they had brought their humble hearts. They sacrificed to find the Savior, and worship Him in the way that they could. Today, we are like those shepherds. We cannot give the Savior physical gifts like the wise men did but we can give Him our hearts, and our lives. We can still give Him a gift. We can choose to serve Him. We can search after Him. I know that when we search that we don't have to look far, He is always close by us. I love the Savior. I'm so grateful that He came to this world and gave His life so we could all return again with Him someday.
Christmas time really is the time of joy.