Hello, My Chickadees. Everyone laughs at me because I love the Hallmark Channel. I especially love it from October to January because I get to see images of love and Christmas… and everybody’s happy! There is no killing, stealing, fighting, people sleeping with each other’s husbands, or plotting to do all manner of evil to one another. It’s just love and La La – just what I like and all that I can handle when I get home from work. It allows me to escape to what Christmas could be if our hearts were filled with Christ and our actions were motivated by love.
Christ is love. Everything about His coming had to do with love – His love for His Father, His love for fallen mankind, His love for all He created. But it seems that the majority of what we hear about, read about, and are bombarded with on ANY news channel or in our daily encounters with others, is anything and everything except love. 1 John 2:16 describes everything in the world being about “the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye, and the pride of life,” which is clearly not of God and not reflections of the Christ we are called to emulate.
What would life be like if we chose to invite Christ in our hearts and we were motivated by our love for Him and one another? Isn’t that what Christmas is supposed to be about? Love? “God so lovedthe world He gave us His only Son,” and His time here with us was to show us how to love one another. His love for us was so deep that He literally sacrificed His life for ours. That’s a degree of love few of us attain, aspire to attain, or are expected to, but He is calling us to love instead of lust.
Love gives; it gives of its time, talents, and itself, for the sake of others. Love says I have your best interest and highest regard because it believes in and hopes for the best for others, and I give of myself to let you know what love looks like.
Lust says it’s all about me. I want what I want, when I want it, and I will do what I need to do by any means necessary to get it. If I need to steal from you, lie to you, cheat you, use you, or even take the life God gave to you, I will, because all that is important is me.
Christmas is a time in which we are challenged to return to love. We are called to be about what we profess we say we are: Christians, followers, imitators of Christ, and ambassadors of love. It’s a time to remember that the gift of ourselves is the greatest gift we can give one another.
No, Hallmark doesn’t talk about Christ, but it does make you feel that He is reflected in the love that is represented. Life, unlike Hallmark, doesn’t always have a happy ending on this side, but Love says I will cover you and keep you and see you through anything you go through. With Love, you are never alone.
My Chickadees, my challenge to all of us this Christmas is for us to allow love to override our lust. Let’s put Christ back into Christmas.
‘Tis the season to return to LOVE.
I love you, My Chickadees, and I pray you have a blessed CHRISTmas.
Peace and Blessings,
Gail