"As the World Slept . . .

.....one silent night, a Savior's born and all creation smiles."

This is a line from from one of my favorite Christmas songs. A group called Newsong sings it (the group that sings 'The Christmas Shoes'). I love it because it does a really superb job of portraying the wonder, amazement, and general lack of understanding of the miracle that graced the Earth that holy night so long ago. The mission of the Prince of Peace was misunderstood. The Jews expected a Savior in an earthly sense and awaited a King who would save them politically. Even as our Savior walked amongst them and taught them and tried to help them understand, they failed to grasp the miracle that would spiritually change their lives.

I often times marvel at His life. I wonder if I would have understood...if I would have followed Him. And the answer is always a resounding, "Yes!" because the same spirit that testifies of Him today, testified of Him then.

The Christmas season is warm and wonderful because it's the celebration of the birth of our Savior and our King. The spiritual witness of the importance of that event...of the importance of Jesus the Christ...will continue to come. It manifests itself in human decency and in kind hearts.

I recently read a sermon written by a pastor who claimed that Jesus had been wrong. He claimed that Christ made mistakes in matters of His gospel. He was trying to make a pitch for a progressive, religious movement.....wanting the principles of Christ's gospel to change to suit the "needs" of our current time. I was stunned, to say the least. The miracle of Christ is that He doesn't change. He never has. He never will. His perfection and his sinlessness are the characteristics of Godhood that made Him an acceptable sacrifice for you and for me.

So as I sit here quietly at the end of a wonderful Christmas, I am reminded of what IS true. We celebrate Christ's birth because of His life. We celebrate Him because of His perfection and His ultimate sacrifice. We celebrate our God. It's a wonderful feeling. And so at the close of this day, I join with the rest of creation and I smile. I smile in gratitude for my Savior. I smile in gratitude for my knowledge and understanding of Him, His mission, and His purpose. I smile in gratitude for a Father in Heaven who, in what was undoubtedly His hardest moment as a parent, sent His Only Begotten Son into a world where He would be largely misunderstood, tortured, and ultimately crucified. I smile in gratitude for the spirit of Christmas and the abundance of blessings that grace my life.

And so I want to wish all a Merry Christmas. May God bless us all.