A Matter of Perspective

The next time you read an article by me in this column, another Christmas will have come and gone. We’ll have thrown away the wrapping paper (or stored it for use next year). We will have gotten out the gift receipts to return that wrong-sized item or anxiously thought about what we could buy with the gift cards we received.

We will be thinking about taking down the decorations (and maybe several of us will have already done so).

We may be thinking about our New Year’s Eve plans or maybe some resolutions to make for the new year.

We will be doing a lot of things to try to keep the children content because undoubtedly many of them will be bored!

We might be reflecting upon the last year.

We might be thinking about the birth of Jesus and what that means for the coming year.

Whatever you or I am thinking about or doing, I hope that I am expressing gratitude for the many stories I have heard and told this past year.

I hope that I am reflecting upon my mom’s life and remembering the many Christmases that I had with her. I still remember the first time my parents had Santa come to our house.

To this day, I do not know who it was, so it must have been the real one!

My little brother and I were so excited. I don’t remember the exact details, of course, but I remember that we were excited and jumping around and probably shouting for joy.

I am sure that our response brought great joy to my parents.

I think part of Christmas is about the joy we can bring to one another.

Yes, it is all about Jesus, but I think God had it in mind that His gift to us would bring us great joy!

I hope that your Christmas brings you great joy. I know that mine will!

(I wanted to share this song with all of you as a special "bonus" for reading the online version of our newspaper!)

Subscribe and get all of the news!