CHRISTMAS CONSIDERATIONS While the meaning of this season is perfectly clear to all of us, suppose you had to tell about it to someone who had never heard of it before. How would you define Christmas? Would you de scribe it by the colors red and green? Perhaps, but there are many other things too. Maybe it would be by the taste. What of the foods: fruitcake and candy, turkey and pumpkin pie, cookies and sweet potatoes? That hard ly does December justice, does it? Well, what does it sound like? Bells and or gans, choirs and carols? Still, just say ing words like these, fails miserably to get across the true meaning of this blessed time. You see, we need to go all the way back to Bethlehem, to the manger where we see the tiny Babe wrapped in swad dling clothes. Wait just a moment. I f we lost all the rest which has come to be associated with Christmas, what would our feelings be, especially if this were all of Christmas? The world so often finds that Christ interferes with its enjoyment of the holiday. Listen, and make no mistake about it, Christ is all of Christmas! The day, the 25th of December, is not limited to taste, sight, sound, or touch. Christmas in actuality is the love of God incarnate in Jesus Christ. Only as by faith we receive Him, do we find that true joy and contentment, not just for a day, but rather for all eternity. * * * The secret of an unsatisfied life lies in an unsurrendered will. * * * WONDER OF WARM WATER With snowy weather so much a part of this season in many areas of the country, an interesting report has been filed from Alaska concerning an un usual mountain lake, sometimes in accessible, the waters of which sur prisingly are always warm. Fish in vast numbers can be caught in the coldest weather. As a matter of fact, while the surrounding area may be cov ered with snow and ice, the lake water is warm enough for a person to swim without freezing. The area is hundreds of miles from the ocean with no evident link, at least on the surface. Scien tists report that the strange phenome non is a result of some subterranean 21
merit, Father had been a gift-giver, a letter-writer, a kind and wise man in a distant land; now he was here in person. What a beautiful picture of the na tivity this is! The Bible tells us that the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us. The word Immanuel, simply means, “God with us.” How wonderful to know that the Lord has provided such matchless blessings in His very person! May we say again with the Apostle of old, “Thanks be unto God for His unspeakable gift.” * * * We must lay self aside or God will lay us aside. * * * LIVING FOR OTHERS As we face a new year, it’s a good time to examine our goals and ambi tions in life. The danger is, of course, that all we do is designed to achieve our own selfish goals. A woman who loved flowers purchased a rare plant which was supposed to have luxuriant blooms. She planted it at the base of a wall and, because of her watchful care, soon it was growing vigorously, yet without one single visible bud. She was discouraged and one morning as she stood with a disappointed air before the plant, her invalid neighbor, whose back lot joined her own, called over, “You can’t imagine how much Tve en joyed the blooms of that vine you planted.” The woman looked over the fence and sure enough, on the other side was a solid mass of luxuriant blooms. The vine had crept through the cracks for some reason, to flower on the other side. As we face this new year of 1968, there’s a wonderful les son for us to learn. So often we get the idea that our efforts are wasted simply because we may not see their fruit. We must learn that in God’s service our prayers, our toils, our crosses, are never in vain. Somewhere they will bear their fruit and other hearts will receive their blessings if we have committed our efforts to Christ. Therefore, as Scripture says, “Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with all thy might!” * * * There is no risk in abandoning ourselves to God's will.
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