CHRISTMAS is so many different things. Great emphasis is put on bright, colorful decorations and lights. Family members and friends who have not been together for months or even years will make extra effort to "be home for Christmas." (Sometimes, it's only "in our dreams".)
Children look forward to gifts they have wished for. Feasting and long standing traditions will be observed. Some will make an effort to attend a church Christmas service. But for others, Christmas can also be a very difficult time.
To those who have experienced the loss of a loved one through death recently, Christmas can be a sad and even a bitter time. Disappointment of failed plans and the heartache of separation, alienation, or divorce brings anything but "peace and goodwill. Added stress on time and additional financial strain on limited funds do not lend to a "silent night, holy night."
From every direction, the reminder comes that we have only ten shopping days left until Christmas" and we need to hurry, hurry, because time is running out. Hurry, plan, spend--this becomes the modus operendi of the season.
In view of some of the things listed above, how can I say, "I am so glad when Christmas comes"? It is because I know, as did St. Paul when he wrote to the Galatian Christians, "...but when the fullness of time had come, God sent His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons." (Galatians 4:4-5 NKJV)
So with all the earthly joys, sorrows, expectations, disappointments, love, and alienation that I experience, I can rejoice in the fact that "Jesus loves me, even me,"--and you! It would be more accurate, then, to say, "I Am So Glad that Christ Has Come."
By David Ancil
