Today is Christmas

We are so blessed to be able to spend this day with loving family and experience all the joy and laughter that Christmas offers at this time of year. However, there are others who are not so fortunate. Think of the homeless person, alone perhaps, perhaps hungry and cold on a street corner in any large city, or the soldier holding guard over his watch on a lonely battlefield, or the older man or woman in a nursing home who waits silently for someone to come and visit him, but no one comes. Or the teenager who decided to run away from home a year or so ago, who yearns for his or her family and yet too afraid to call home and ask them if he can return. Or perhaps a single person who may be in a midst of a crowd, but longs for close companionship and fellowship with another person, but can't seem to find that special person. Maybe a patient in a hospital who was diagnosed with a serious disease and finds themselves in the midst of painful treatments with no one else around to care. So many other examples of people that need a human touch, a gentle word of encouragement, a hug, or just a smile to brighten their Christmas morning.

Romans 12:1 says: Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God--which is your spiritual worship."

We as Christians can be that "body" that reaches out in Christ's love to comfort and console those who are lonely, lost, hungry, cold, widowed, or in physical or emotional pain. Christ in us wants to assure those who do not know him that He is there for them and will not leave them or forsake them. God was so merciful to us when we discovered Him as our own personal Savior. He does not want us to remain silent about that mercy. He wants us to share it with those that He places in our sphere of influence.

This Christmas Day, enjoy your family thoroughly and completely, but look for doors of opportunity in the future to give someone hope and share Christ's love with them. God is knocking on the door of hearts, and He may want us to be that vessel He can use to show them how to open that door and ask Jesus in!

Merry Christmas!
Sandy