Tell The Story...

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" Because of God's tender mercy, the morning light is about to break upon us, to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, and to guide us to the path of peace." Luke 1:78-79

The Christmas season has come upon us with a quickness. Before we know it our time is filled with busyness, pressure, and a whole lotta stress. Would you agree? I think it is safe to say that the holidays can be just plain hard. Shopping, spending, wrapping, decorating, cooking, parties, plays, programs, on top of normal life is a bit much for anybody. Don't get me wrong I love the holidays, it just catches up with me at times.  And way too often I feel like we miss it all together. The real purpose. The real meaning of why we do it all. The STORY. 

A couple of years ago in the midst of all my decorating, I hung our advent calendar on the wall by the Christmas Tree. This was a new home for our calendar and I felt in my heart that something special needed to happen with that calendar this particular year. In years past it had hung somewhere in the house and we would move the marker on the days that we remembered at best. As I continued stringing lights, placing ornaments, and hanging garland I thought about that calendar. Lying in bed that night the Christmas story came to my mind. The Christmas story is found in the book of Luke. I crawled out of my bed, went for my Bible and found Luke. I flipped through the pages of this gospel and saw it had 24 chapters, I glanced over at our advent calendar and noticed the 24 small stockings. A chapter a night. I whispered, "Thank you Father for showing me what to do with this calendar." On Dec. 1 we started with Luke 1. Luke 2 revealed the beloved Christmas story, and on Christmas Eve we finished the gospel of Luke. The story of our savior.

Tonight we continue the tradition. It is a different year, but the story is timeless, just like Christmas. It helps our family to focus of the real purpose. To remember why we do all the extra stuff in December.

This Christmas, read the story. Step into it. Live it. For the morning light is about to break, and it will guide us straight to peace...