By Jenni Ingram
Member, First Baptist Church, Gantt
As Christmastime fast approaches I’d like to share something with you. As a child I was incredibly spoiled at Christmas. Then there was the Christmas of 1990. I was homeless, and I had just buried my son on Christmas Eve.
It had just snowed — a lot. I was in Maryland, there were no Christmas trees, no gifts, no joy and my Christmas meal came in a Styrofoam container from an angel passing out dinners.
Today we may not have much to unwrap under the tree, but for me Christmas comes all throughout the year — both in the giving and the receiving.
It comes every time my husband does something unexpected to let me know he loves me, my granddaughters hug me or put their head on my shoulder, when I’m able to cook for the whole family and have them at our house, or when I pay a bill. It’s also when I am able to buy something for someone to help them out, when I can pray for someone or when I can share someone’s pain. It’s all about love.
Love is what held Jesus on that cross — not the nails. Love is what put those gifts under the tree when I was a child. Love is what makes us do things that push us out of our comfort zone to help someone else.
When Jesus was asked what the greatest commandment in the law was He replied, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments’”(Matt. 22:37–40). God gives us the opportunity to celebrate Christmas 365 days a year — just love.
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