December 16, 2020

Written by Guest Writer, Joy Mathis Chadwick

“For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.” Luke 2:11 KJV

We have been not-rich, and most of the time poor, throughout our married life, but the state of our finances was never represented underneath the Christmas tree. We love to look back at old home movies when the kids were coming down the hall early Christmas morning; the tree sometimes looked pitiful, sometimes beautiful, but there was always an abundance of presents underneath the tree. One year in particular all the gifts were wrapped in newspaper because there just wasn’t enough money left for pretty Christmas paper. The presents in the early years were almost always from Dollar General; as we began to get back on our feet, Santa had a little better selection of gifts that he could leave for the Chadwick boys. And still yet, there is an abundance of presents under our tree. We just love the pure joy and excitement of gift giving.

Perhaps one of my most favorite things about Christmas (before Covid) was the annual Christmas program at our little country church. The littles always took such pride in their part of the nativity. I remember one year a little boy who played Joseph announced quite proudly, “It’s a boy!!!” And of course there were always angels with their garland halos and wise men who brought gifts that strongly resembled bottles of perfume on loan from their mothers.

Gift giving is indeed a big part of Christmas, but I sometimes find myself wishing that there could actually be two Christmases each year; one to embrace the gift giving and festivities, but the other one to do nothing but celebrate the birth of Jesus. But even the word “Christmas” has been replaced with “holiday” by most of the media, so the chances of a designated day to celebrate nothing but the birth of Jesus seems pretty unlikely.

Yet God himself gave the ultimate gift. And He did it in a big way!! I like to think that He was even more excited than a parent who has given their child exactly what they wanted for Christmas. It was truly a time of rejoicing and celebration. The promised king had been born. The birth announcement simply stated that a Savior had been born. Were there those who heard this angelic announcement who might not have understood all the implications of a Savior? Even today, do we as Christians fully understand all the implications of the greatest gift ever given?

May our lives show others each and every day that, yes indeed, we do have a personal relationship with this Savior, which is Christ the Lord!