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| a musical matchbox |
For Christmas 2008, my great-grandma sent me this musical matchbox. I stowed it away and planned to pull it out next Christmas and send her a picture and note. However, there wasn't a "next" Christmas. It was her last gift to me.
I pull it out each year and display it in my room :) This year I discovered that it would no longer play music, but having it out still reminds me of Grandma Alice -- her sweet smile when we would visit, the cards she would send every holiday without fail, and her thoughtful gifts.
It is this memory that makes me so grateful for Christmas. Not the presents, or the delicious food (although both were a part of the day), but the fact that "...there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord" (Luke 2:11). I don't know where my grandma's heart was before the Lord Jesus Christ, but I do treasure the reminder that our lives on earth are short and that one day I will stand before my Creator.
Christmas is the celebration of the birth of my Savior. I once heard a pastor say that Christmas is important because of Easter. The baby in the manager, while sweet and seemingly-innocent, is worth celebrating because 30 years later, He would voluntarily submit to death on a cross to pay the price for the sins of anyone who would "...confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved" (Romans 10:9).
The greatest gift of Christmas is the gift of Jesus's sacrifice to live as a man and to die a horrible death to offer the gift of salvation. I'm grateful for the assurance that Christ is my Savior and love having a day to celebrate His birth, made important by His death and subsequent resurrection =)
Merry Christmas!
"And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins." ~Matthew 1:21
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