Good Tidings of Great Joy!

One of my most favorite shows to watch at Christmas, is "A Charlie Brown Christmas." There is just something about the scene where Charlie Brown asks "Isn't there anyone who knows what Christmas is all about?" and Linus says, "Sure, Charlie Brown, I can tell you what Christmas is all about." Then Linus walks onto center stage, asks for the lights to dim, and starts sharing the Christmas story.

You see, Charlie Brown had been feeling down. While everyone else was hustling and bustling and being excited about Christmas and preparing for Christmas, he didn't feel the same "Christmas spirit."

How many of us feel the same way at Christmas? The Christmas carols are playing nonstop on the radio and in the stores, all the stores are decorated (and have been since Halloween, it seems), and people are running frantically about trying to find gifts. Sometimes we feel like all of this is happening around us but we just can't "feel" that Christmas spirit. Like Charlie Brown, we see the "trappings" of Christmas, but we don't feel "a part" of it.

Sometimes when life is busy and there are difficulties, I have struggled to "find" the Christmas spirit. It is when I stop to realize that the Christmas spirit is not about the hustle and the bustle and the trappings, that I remember...it is about remembering the most important gift of them all.

When Linus gets up on the stage to tell the Christmas story and all is quiet and the lights are dim, it helps me to focus on what is the most important. It helps me to have the "true Christmas Spirit."

Are you struggling this Christmas to find the "Christmas spirit?" It isn't about the carols, the tree, the lights or the gifts. It is about a gift that was given to you, to all of us so long ago...

...and the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David, a saviour, which is Christ the Lord. (Luke 2:10-11)

Immanuel, God with us... A gift of hope... A gift of love... for all... for you.

As you watch the hustle and bustle around you, do not be discouraged, you have been given Good Tidings of Great Joy! Take time to read the Christmas story and know that long ago, before you were even born, a gift had been planned ahead of time, just for you! (Luke 2:8-14)

And, if you get the chance, listen to Linus share the Christmas Story on "A Charlie Brown Christmas" and be filled with the true "Christmas Spirit."

Joy to the World, the Lord is come!