On several occasions during this holiday season, I have found myself disappointed because my daily morning newspaper arrives very late. Usually, I am an early riser (around 6:a.m.). After my morning shower and getting dressed, I usually head outside to pick up the paper to read with my breakfast. Well, it’s not there and I feel disgruntled.

When it gets to be over an hour late, I have called and the answer I get is usually, “We have a great many ads so the paper is going to arrive late as it takes longer to prepare for delivery.”

I’m sure you are well aware of all the ads. Everything anyone could ever think of is listed from clothing to jewelry, from home furnishings to auto accessories, each and every toy I could ever imagine, electronic gadgets, cell phones, and on and on.

I have no quarrel with the advertising, but I find myself a bit unhappy because it is all classed, “gifts for Christmas”.

Maybe it is because I am getting old, but when someone asks me what I want for Christmas, I really can’t think of one thing I ‘need’. I could use a little volunteer help occasionally but when I suggest that, the reply is “Yes, I know, but what else do you want?”

This year after much thought I did think of one thing. Through the many years of our marriage, the one gift Bill used to give me and that I always enjoyed was a particular perfume. That I miss and it is the one suggestion I offered.

Other than that, I find myself focusing more on ‘Christmas’ and not the trappings of the holiday. 

As a child, I loved the story of Mary and Joseph, the lack of a place to stay, the birth in a stable (I’d guess a cave of some sorts), the angels’ songs, the shepherds and later the visit from the wise men. It all seemed so very ‘special’ and it was probably not until much later that I began to realize the significance of this event.

And, it was still later that I began to see the fact that this was a very barren arrival for a ‘savior’. For his birthplace there was a primitive stable instead of a nice clean facility, a manger for a bed, no nurses or doctors, just a nervous and worried Joseph and a scared, very young about to be ‘mother’.

 After the birth, finally there were the shepherds who came to see this ‘thing’ about which the angels sang. They didn’t stop to get cleaned up, but rather came straight from the field where they watched over their sheep. I’d image for Mary and Joseph it felt frightening and very, very lacking in amenities.

This was the birth of the ‘Savior’ who was sent because humanity just couldn’t seem to ‘get it right’. God had blessed His creation with so much but still people turned away, did not follow His directions, and did as they ‘pleased’. Does the description of that society sound familiar? We may have traveled a great distance in discovering ‘things’ that make life different and perhaps easier, but have we grown closer to our loving God?

Christmas is the time that we remember that God loved humanity enough to send Jesus to be born in a very humble way. This gift was to become the gift that offered salvation to those who trusted and believed.

When I ponder this gift of a Savior, I rethink what I ‘want’ for Christmas. I doubt it would be much different from what most all would like.

I would like to live a life more as God would have me live…more loving, more generous, more forgiving. 

I would like this world to reject so many false teachings and turn to God instead of all the things people use to make themselves ‘feel good’…alcohol, drugs, wealth, possessions.

I would like to see people more understanding of others instead of ‘choosing to denigrate and seek to reject all who aren’t just like us.

Oh, how I would like to see peace reign in our world instead of all the bitterness, hate and war.

I would like to see our churches as full on an ordinary Sunday as they are on Christmas and Easter. (I know the concept, “I can worship anyplace. I don’t need to be in church.") But, I ask, “Do you worship?”

Lastly, as Christmas rapidly approaches, I’d hope and pray that each and every one of us recognize the gift given that very first Christmas.

No gift before or after can ever be as great as the gift of a Savior who came down to offer us the greatest gift of all…salvation. Nothing can compare with that gift.

My wish for each of you is that you have a blessed Christmas and also a future that allows you to walk daily with our God and each and every day rejoice that we have been so blessed.