Christmas! A Season for Rejoicing!

In the background is the tree, presents stacked neatly beneath, beautiful sunshine outside the door, and the turtle tank where they can enjoy the sun.  These are merely background items!  Christmas isn't about trees, decorations, lights, or toys!  Christmas is about the greatest gift ever given!  For those of you who are reading this blog for the first time, I'll give you a hint:  What does Christmas mean?  Christ + mas = Christ's day, or Jesus' birthday!  He is the greatest gift ever given, and He is the reason for the season!  How I rejoice at the knowledge that God loved me enough to send His beloved Son, Jesus.  So look at the picture again.  What's in the foreground?  The most beautiful woman in the world (my beloved wife, Cathy), and one of the most precious gifts, our grandson.  She is holding him because she loves him.  Love is what this season is about!

My son Jeremy was our firstborn.  He's pictured here holding his son Eldon, named after Grandpa Eldon Lehman, a true man of God and follower of Jesus, who is with the Lord now.  The very notion of spending time with these two is a treasure!  That's what Christmas is about.  Had there been a Grinch in our house who took all the gifts, tree, decorations, and food, we still would have met together to celebrate the birthday of Jesus!  That's what Christmas is about!  We give each other gifts to celebrate this most wonderful gift from the Lord.  Gifts are an expression of love.  Yet gifts are not necessary to have a memorable Christmas.  They are superfluous.  The love behind the gift is what is important.  As God expressed amazing love in sending Jesus we express love in words and actions that demonstrate that we do love each other.  I can remember a Christmas eve when Cathy and I spent those hours huddled under an electric blanket during a Pennsylvania winter because we had no heat in the house.  That fact detracted nothing from our joyous celebration!

And there was so much more!  Jeff, our second son, and Serena our daughter were all together with us for Christmas.  Cathy and I are so blessed!  Our sons and daughter follow Jesus.  They like each other!  (I wasn't sure that would be true as they were growing up!)  We all have a healthy loving relationship with each other.  So when Christmas comes around it is a time for us to get together, because we all follow Jesus, and celebrate His birthday.  He is central to all our lives!  And though you cannot see Him, He was and is present with us every day.  That is what makes Christmas special!  The greatest gift is eternal.  Most of the gifts we gave were not eternal.  But one is! It is the gift of love.

Jeff married Tawny, on the left, and Jeremy married Savanna on the right.  Little Bristol is Jeremy and Savanna's oldest.  For a moment consider this amazing gift.  God gave us two wonderful daughters-in-law, both incredibly beautiful women, both followers of Jesus.  And together those two families have given us three grandchildren!  How precious is that?  I watch them as parents and I often think:  "Thank You, Lord, for giving me such wonderful sons, and daughters-in-law, who follow You, and will raise their children in the fear and wisdom of God!"  If I died today my legacy is secure.  I loved my wife, loved and raised three children, and somehow, through all the mistakes and failures, shortcomings, and weaknesses, God allowed me to see them grow up to follow Jesus.  My sons married women who follow Jesus.  My daughter's faith is strong and her walk with God constantly surprises and inspires me.  I had nothing to do with any of that!  It was all Jesus, the most wonderful gift ever given!  How could I not celebrate with a full heart at Christmas.

I love this photo.  One of the reasons is because my sons are good friends.  They do things together.  Both seek each other out and both depend on the other's expertise.  Both are husbands of stay-at-home moms.  Both love their wives with the same depth of love that I love Cathy.  And they love their kids.

Pictured to the right is another photo I love.  Cathy and Serena are such good friends.  Here they are examining some jewelry together in Santa Barbara at the arts and crafts festival held on the beach each weekend.  Serena is smart, like her mom, and passionate and funny, like her dad.  She amazes me constantly.  Always she will be my little girl.  But I am aware of the incredible adult she has become.  In one of my most difficult and trying moments in life she wrote a letter that helped me to find my way through a dark and frightening time.  Although I have not fully recovered from the trauma of that time, the words she wrote stay with me.  They reflect God's love.  That's what Christmas is all about!

Hey!  That's me!  Age 7!  I knew Jesus then, and was following Him.  I had no idea that this little boy would one day grow up, marry a lovely woman, have three children, and watch them grow up following Jesus, see the boys marry lovely women, and have children of their own.  Back then I wanted to be a minister and swim in the lake in the summer, and play in the snow and on the ice in the winter.  All the promise of this future was there.  But it did not reside in this little boy!  The promise resided in Jesus!  Jesus made it all happen, and sustains it today and forever!  That's what Christmas is all about.  Just like today, Christmas was all about Jesus and the greatest gift ever given.  It was fun!  Excitement could be seen in the decorations and preparations for family.

Don't get lost in the Christmas of a godless generation!  It's not about commercialism, or materialism, or selfishness!  Christmas is about Jesus, the greatest gift ever given!  Instead find ways to serve and give to others.  Bless lives while you rejoice in the real meaning of Christmas.  Be like the dear man of God who began the Santa Clause tradition!  Niklaus went about the poorest homes in his city (in Holland) and put toys and food in the wooden shoes kept on the front porches.  Look what St. Nick has become, how a materialistic and narcissistic culture has changed his image.  Forget all that!  Remember the birth in Bethlehem, the angels singing to the shepherds, announcing the Lord Jesus.  Remember the love of an awesome God who provided for our salvation.  Peace on earth, and mercy mild, God and sinners reconciled!  Jesus, I love You.  Bunch, I love you.  Bennett, Badano, and Winder family, I love you!  Merry Christmas!  Happy birthday, Jesus!