>CHRISTmas Day

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I pray your CHRISTmas was as wonderful as ours.  I am not talking about the gifts and many celebrations, but the time of celebrating Jesus’ birth … the greatest gift of all!  Gifts are fun and exciting but they break, don’t fit and go out of style quickly and there is always something “new and improved” vying for our money and attention. God gives us such things to enjoy. They are expressions of his generosity as well as ours, but gifts and celebrations themselves do not satisfy… at least not for very long.  We are not meant to love the gifts, but we are to love the giver and the joy that comes from giving as opposed to just receiving.  While it’s always nice to receive a gift, it pales in comparison to watching the joy on others faces as they receive one of my gifts with great excitement.  I can’t help but think of how Christ must feel each time His gift is opened in the life of a new believer.  His gift never goes out of style, it never breaks and it’s always a perfect fit!  I pray you have received His gift and that you celebrate it with excitement EVERY day and proudly tell others about it, just as you excitedly tell of your new Wii, ipod, camera, car, toy ….