MERRY CHRISTMAS - THE GIFT OF LOVE

Christmas 2011 is here. Families all over our great land will gather to share gifts, food but most of all love. Love, the most important and magnificent part of Christmas. Love shared with family and friends. Love shared with neighbors and fellow workers. It is love which made Christmas possible for each of us to celebrate every year.

This love was not shared with gifts under a tree. Nor was it shared only with family and friends but to all mankind. This love came wrapped in a little baby who was born in the most humble of circumstances, a lowly manger which was found in a stable because it was the only place that was open for His birth and He was born there because He came to this Earth to offer Himself to those who would accept Him. On that first Christmas Day a stable was all that was available so that is where He was born.

Today He is no different. Though He grew into a Man who freely sacrificed Himself on a cross and conquered the grave so that all mankind could have life through Him, He still only enters the hearts of those who are willing to accept the love that He has so freely given. The politically correct may try to deny Him as they bombard us with Happy Holidays, but He loves them too and patiently waits for them to receive the love that He also gave for them. "For unto you is born this day in the City of David, a Saviour which is Christ the Lord."

It was for us that He came and it was love which compelled Him to come. It is that same love which He still offers to us today. A love that brings with it life eternal and peace which passes all understanding. And that my friends is the true reason and meaning of Christmas. While all of the trappings, the lights, the trees, the gifts, the food, Santa, Ebenezer Scrooge are all grand, the list is almost endless, Christmas truly is about love. Born in manger to die on a cross, victorious over the grave so that all mankind may have life through Him.

Merry Christmas to each of you and God's richest blessings for years to come!

Ken Taylor