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By Myrtle Virginia Thompson

It’s the Christmas season! Just about everybody knows that, because Santa Claus is present in stores and on lawns.

I saw cards dismissing the usual scenes and showing a truck hauling home a large tree. I knew what that meant. Houses and buildings are lit up, announcing without words a message we all understand. Near my home is a yard decorated with an enormous Santa, a happy face to greet the passersby. The yard is like a fairyland.

Why do we celebrate? For one reason, it’s time to change the order of life on our calendar. The year is ending, and we want, perhaps need, something new like a preface for the book as we hope it will be written in 2022. This year has had no shortage of downturns, holes in our physical and emotional lives. There has been no end to how 2021 has treated some of us. Fear and sadness took its toll.

We know there must be something better, something new for today’s people. That something has been available for a long time. We can enjoy the fun of Santa Claus, but at year’s end he is gone from us. Maybe a trip to Bethlehem with Joseph and Mary can encourage us. It is in that time-honored story, actually a promise given about 6,000 years ago in Genesis 3:15 and recorded later in Isaiah 9 and in the New Testament, where we find hope.

When I began to look inward, I recognized an unfilled space. I pondered a broader picture than the December event, which lasts only one month. I found a blessed truth, which brought the peace I needed, and I want to share it.

Leave out those who insist on debating. There is much we cannot explain, but God Himself promised that all who seek will find Him. The Scriptures have tried to remind us that at some time in our lives, we are likely to give thought to what is beyond the curtain of death. That is when the Christmas message becomes important. God wanted us to have that information. The Bible translators have made that possible for many in the world.

Everything God created has a “language.” Even so, we may not be able to communicate our thoughts with another part of His creation. For instance, if we wanted to talk to birds, we would have to become a bird. I learned something from the crows. They are both smart and crafty. I threw out bread. They came, even sat on the light post, and “cawed” when I forgot. Then one day they stopped coming. The bread was left on the ground. No other birds wanted it. A few days later, I saw what had happened. A trash heap near a restaurant was alive with crows. They had found something more appealing.

So much about Christmas and our Christian life is like that. The story of Jesus, the One born to save us from our sinful ways, has been left aside for something that seems more appealing. We put up the beautiful lights not understanding Jesus is the light of the world. He was the baby in Bethlehem, the One who lived and died to give the message of light to the thousands around Him and leave it in print for us today.

We have access to that message. Let’s find the real stuff this year as we celebrate. Begin by reading the Bible story. Start with Matthew and Luke to find the record, then go to the Gospel of John who will call Jesus the Word. It’s a language we can understand. He tells us Jesus was the communication from God, right from the beginning. Carry on and read Mark who always seems to remind us to be in a hurry. Don’t wait. Those writers will tell us the real Christmas story. May you be blessed as you read the message God has for us. Merry Christmas!

Myrtle Thompson is a retired TEAM missionary, educator, Bible teacher and “joyful old writer.” Contact her at mvtgrt@gmail.com.