Joy To The World

Life, in its present iteration, is a maelstrom. The job and the customers. The clients and their demands. The traffic and the weather. The patients and their problems. At home, it’s the kids and their needs and the marriage and its challenges. And if you are still not convinced, just turn on the 11 o’clock news and then follow that with your cable news channel of choice.

In our childhood, life is composed of circumstances and experiences largely not of our choosing, whether good or bad. But as we get older, it becomes composed of decisions and consequences – decisions we have made along the way and the consequences thereof, heavily seasoned with the decisions of others that we have loved, trusted, or worked for or with. At Christmas, when we are alone with ourselves and our loved ones, the true value of our lives becomes illuminated by the lights from the tree. Sometimes what we see is beautiful and deeply satisfying. For others, the lights show what is missing, what was lost, what is bent or broken, and in some cases, it reveals what we never really had. And so we long for those who have left us. And we plan – for bigger and better and more next year, and to be with someone or to have something more in 2019 sitting around or laid underneathour tree. But we, in our longings and strivings miss the point of the day and the season.

“And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.” – Luke 2:10-11

“…great joy.” Don’t breeze past this. This is the core, the “creamy milk-chocolaty nugat” of Christmas. Not the presents and the Christmas music. Not the food - not even your family, both present and unaccounted for, as wonderful or as vexing as they may be. The core is the great joy that “unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour.” On this day, your path to salvation, to eternal life, meaning, and relevance – no matter what you have done or failed to do – is assured through the embrace and acknowledgment of this little boy’s birth, life, death, and resurrection as the Son of God and the Savior of the World. That’s the “Good News!” Because of this day and this little boy and through the acceptance of His Gospel as truth, your life isn’t futile, senseless, and hell bound. That’s where the joy is, and that is where it will remain regardless of present or future circumstances, no matter who does or does not sit with us for Christmas dinner or the condition they may be in when they sit. So rejoice!!!

Understand that the gifts we give one another are a mere reflection of the eternal gift of everlasting life Jesus Christ has given us. Don’t receive this as a quaint and sentimental bromide; rather, receive it has you would a winning Powerball ticket – with shouts of delight, tears of joy, and profound and deep head-bowed gratitude. This gift is real. Receive it. Embrace it. Feel it. And don’t ever, ever let it go. Because everything else – everything – is gravy.

Merry Christmas,

Darryl and Shelia Fortson