I'm Not Doing Christmas this Year!

**I realize that Thanksgiving has not even gotten here yet, but I felt so convicted to post this.

I want to begin by just saying that inspiration for this post came from my baby sister saying these exact words to me today on the phone. I'm asking for prayer for her and her family as they go through some rough times...and mostly, I am asking for prayer for her salvation and the salvation of her family. Thanks**

"I'm not doing Christmas this year!"

That is what my sister told me today on the phone. She had called for my address to send me a card, so I asked if it was a Christmas card, and that was her reply.
When I asked her why, she responded with a list of things that are more important than presents and gifts, and pointed out how all of those things, bills, and responsibilities, left her family with little money to buy gifts.

This troubles me because a few years ago, I probably would have said the same thing. Christmas has been commercialized to the point that people feel that if they don't have money, they can't celebrate!

The true meaning of Christmas has been lost! Snowballed over and covered up with wrapping paper, bows and pretty tags!

CHRIST has been taken out of Christmas! CHRISTmas is what we are left with. OR X-mas!

It is Jesus that should be gifted...the story of His glorious birth, handed down from generation to generation. Sharing the story of His birth, the reason He was GIFTED to us, so that we could have eternal life!

HE IS THE GREATEST GIFT THAT WE'VE EVER RECEIVED
AND HIS STORY IS THE GREATEST GIFT
THAT WE COULD EVER GIVE TO ANOTHER PERSON!

It is about JESUS CHRIST!

It never was about the presents, the tree they sit under, the paper they are wrapped in, the store they were bought at, the price that was paid for them...NONE of that matters one single bit. Yes, it is so much fun to give gifts...to pick the perfect presents for the special people in our lives, to wrap them nicely and then to see the expression on their faces when they open them! That is all good and fine and I am not putting that down one bit, because I so enjoy it too!

BUT, it literally breaks my heart to hear my sister say, that because she won't have money, that she just isn't doing Christmas at all this year. I so want her to know, that it is about so much more than that...

I pray that this year you (and I) share about Jesus more this Christmas season than what is under the tree. Share HIS STORY...it leads right into yours' you know?

JESUS IS THE REASON FOR THE SEASON!