It isn’t time to unwrap is it?  It is only December 8th!   Isn’t the tradition, “Don’t open until Christmas?”

I guess if I were referring to earthy presents it wouldn’t be time, but that isn’t what I’m referring to at all.

I am joining a Christmas series with some other bloggers at the Faith Barista’s place to discover new ways of unwrapping Jesus this Christmas season.

One thing we as a family are doing this year is reading a tiny part of the Christmas story each day.   Our daughter’s teacher sent home a Taper candle with the first 25 days of Christmas drawn on it.  Staring December 1st, we lit the candle and let it burn down to December 2nd, the next day it burned until the 3rd, etc …   We also have a scroll with instructions for each day.

• December 1st: Today we begin the countdown to Christmas!  Read John 3:16 to find the best Christmas present ever given.
• December 2nd: About 700 years before Jesus was born, the prophet Isaiah told people He was coming!  Read Isaiah 9:6-7.
• December 3rd: An angel went to visit a young girl to tell her she would have a baby.  That baby would be Jesus!  What was her name?  Read Luke 1:26-38

You get the idea.  It is a cute way to get the family connected — a moment the three of us can actually be focused on Jesus together.

I don’t know why, but this year I feel I have simplified.   As I typed that I looked around the glow in my den from the Christmas lights.  Hmmm, maybe I didn’t simplify “much” on the decorations (though I did some), but perhaps it is a condition of the heart.

We were in a Christmas parade last Saturday night.  The side of our “float/wagon” advertises our corn maze and Christmas tree business, but then states, “JESUS is the reason for the season.”   It is so obvious when looking out into the crowd which parade “goers” agreed or disagreed.   I felt like I was in a spiritual gyroscope as I watched the expressions on the faces and looked people in the eyes to wish them a Merry Christmas.  Looking back, it seemed to go in slow motion.   There was a battle with that simple truth in the minds of some people.  I could see it on their faces.   If we had something written about God on the side of our ride, there would have been little offense, but the name JESUS stops people in their tracks.

It is in that powerful Name that we have LIFE.  It is through His blood that we have FREEDOM.   HE is the One who made a way for us to have eternal life and there is no other way to the Father but through Him.

John 3:16
For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son,that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.

John 14:6
Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.”

I’m sure satan hates that Name.  Jesus foiled his plans!

With that said, somehow in my mind and heart, I am in a different place this year.   I feel simplified.  I feel stripped of things that don’t really matter.

Is your focus on Jesus this Christmas season?

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For the month of December, The Faith Barista has challenged us to a series entitled:  Unwrapping Jesus

If you would like to join us, please click on the link below:

(Photos:  Me, my friend Katherine, and sweet young lady Maddie waiting for the parade to start.   Also a photo of our hay wagon.)