Twas the Month After Christmas...

Twas the month after Christmas

And all through the town,

People looked tired

They seemed really down.

 Christmas was over

It was all packed away,

No lights, no more sparkle

Just regular days.

 The holiday feeling

Had faded and went,

Their pockets were empty

The money all spent.

 They looked rather hopeless

With heads hanging low,

The parties were over

They’d nowhere to go.

 Forgetting the good news-

The Holy One’s birth,

Can’t change with our actions

Or seasons on earth.

 

 

 Remind them that Christmas

Can never depart,

If Jesus – the Christ Child

Is born in their heart.

      After the Hebrew people celebrated the Feast of Tabernacles Jesus went to the temple early in the morning to teach. The lamps that were hung up through the city for the celebration were probably being removed that morning. I can imagine how people must have felt as they cleaned up the streets and put things away...kind of like we feel when putting away our Christmas decorations?  The party was over. But as they were taking down the lights that morning, there, in the temple was shining the Light of the World...right in their midst. He was the fulfillment of all the celebrations, but they could not see Him because they were focused on the party, not the person.

      What if it was always Christmas? Not the Christmas with Santa and shopping, but the kind that reminds us everyday that Christ was born...He came...He lived...He died for us...He rose again...He sits at His Father's right hand...and He is coming again!

      I don't know what Jesus was thinking as He watched them take down the lights, but I know what He said..."I am the light of the world, He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life." ~ John 8:12

      If the Christ child is born in our hearts, then we have His light, "the light of life" within us every single day. Let's shine brightly for Him, as we celebrate Christmas even after the tree is taken down, the twinkling lights are removed, and all the decorations are stored away in the attic. Everyday is a party for His followers, as we dance and sing praises for Him...celebrating the Light of life.

The Christmas Letter

Reposted from Christmas past...

Just a letter once a year, folded in a card.

What's the big deal? That shouldn't be too hard.

Just put my pen to paper, and write a word or two,

Telling of the happenings, the old and the new.

Why does it feel like therapy, as I sit and reminisce?

Over opportunities, those taken and those missed.

The trials and the blessings, enough to fill a year.

Ones that made us laugh, and those that brought us fear.

Of lives that changed forever, and those that wouldn't budge.

Teaching us this lesson - it's not for us to judge.

God is working everywhere, in every single day.

We don't know the how or why, and we don't pick His way.

I'd choose the path with flowers, the one that's smooth and clean,

But God allows some potholes, to let His grace be seen.

Life is like a story, a stack of letters sent.

Revealing where we're headed, and where we just went.

Another year folded up, and placed within a card.

With creases made by choices, some easy and some hard.

All together they add up, to life that's full and blessed.

Every year through pen and ink, I put this to the test.

But every time I start to write, I'm overwhelmed with praise.

For all God's done within a year - three hundred and sixty five days.

Those things I saw as problems, He used within His plans.

Teaching me this simple truth - It's all within His hands.

I hope this letter finds you, believing even more.

And knowing Him more fully, than all the years before.

And know that in my story, you hold a special part,

Not just in Christmas letters, but deep within my heart

©2009 Charlotte Foster