Friday, December 16, 2011

The Weary World Rejoices

The other day, my boss at work gave me my first Christmas present of the year – a jar of honey that he made (you don’t really make honey… you extract it? Whip it up? Coagulate it? I have no idea).  I got into my car to leave that day and put my lovely present on the seat next to me, drank some warm coffee and turned on the radio to Christmas music. The spirit of Christmas filled me to my toes and I couldn’t help but smile.

There’s something electrifying about Christmas. Lights go up in shops, snow reflects the moon at night making the night world glow with eerie joy. People are nicer to each other (except on Black Friday), people feel compelled to wish each other joy. People give gifts with curly ribbons, spending more than they have but giving with a full heart (Gift of the Magi, anyone?)

Is it ironic or not so ironic that Christmas is filled with joy when it represents one of the greatest days (only equalled to the Resurrection) mankind has ever seen? The explosive joy felt over two thousand years ago when Planet Earth received its Savior continues to spill over into the present. The magnitude of the significance, thousands of years later cannot help but touch us still. Whether we know it or not – that is the reason why joy is felt. Earth received her King. If the earth had feelings like a human, what sort of nuclear reaction went off when it woke up to find God had come back to its mortal soil? That the perfection it had experienced during the Eden years made a re-appearance on a moonlit night? Joy to the world!

With our twinkle lights, and our tree skirts, we feel the warmth of a season of joy. But WHY? Because Jesus Christ came back for us, refused to abandon us to our hopelessness. He came to die, and then to defeat death, to do great things...all for us. THERE IS NO GREATER REASON FOR JOY. And with the joy in remembrance of what He's done comes the hope of the promise that He will come back for us again if we don't leave this earth to join Him first.

For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn.  Merry Christmas.

4 comments:

Angela said...

Aaaahhh this was such a sweet post! Thank you for sharing from your heart! (And I'll take a little bit of that honey if you're not using it all...!) :)

Dennis Ashley said...

Well "said," Liz. Loved the allusion to "The Gifts of the Magi," one of my favorite bits of non-Biblical Christmas literature. A few years I've tried reading the story aloud on Christmas Eve with my family, but they just haven't caught the magic yet.

Merry Christmas, and keep writing!

Anonymous said...

A little honey, a little hope, the gift of spirit. Enjoy your holiday.

Liz said...

Aww thanks Angela :) haha it's a big jar of honey I've got lots to spare! Thanks PA! Keep trying haha... I would love to enact family reading time but I guess it's a little old fashioned for some :) I hope you guys have a great Christmas! And thanks Kelly for the blog visit! ;) that's a very poetic way to put it :)