The Holidays come in clusters around this month of December, really beginning in November around Thanksgiving in the United States, this year on November 26. Collectively, populations all over the world exercise celebrations based on belief and what they consider important. This is right.
Upon what do you base your treatment of the Holidays? For millions of people, these are Holy Days, regardless of religious persuasion. We have the non-religious aspects, too, which involve Santa Claus, or a derivative.
Let me take this opportunity to say that Christmas (Christ-Mass) is both a holiday and a holy day. At Christmas (December 25) we give and receive gifts (a time-honored tradition) and in truth, and in balance, we honor the greatest Gift of all: God sending Christ into the world so that God’s Word would become tangible. As author E. Stanley Jones said so many years ago referencing the Gospel of John 1:14 (New Testament) * the Word of God became flesh. Jones’ book, The Word Became Flesh is probably one of the most truthful expositions of this truth. Long out of print, if you can pick up a used copy on the Internet, please do. Read it and treasure it. That truth of God’s Word becoming flesh, if you choose to accept and receive it, will change your life forever. There is no greater truth. Representative of God’s love, God’s gift of Christ was freely given because of God’s love for His creation and His desire to redeem His creation.
Of course, Christmas and other holidays (holy days) are for children as well as entire families. Enjoy to the fullest extent possible!
From our publishing family to yours: Have a Blessed and Memorable holiday season. And may this season be one in which we balance faith, fact, fiction, fun, and festivity!
*John 1:14 New King James Version: “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.”