Are YOU ready for Christmas?

Hard to imagine what most people would think if they didn't understand what Christmas was all about, what the real meaning was behind it all?

If you were to take someone who had no knowledge whatsoever of what Christmas was and had them pass through a local mall, what might they think Christmas was about? Think about it for a minute, you're heading into a very over crowded parking lot filled more than usually. People are racing around in cars trying to rush into whatever space they find available. It's very competitive, so if you don't watch out, you may even lose the one you've been eyening or possibly engage in a verbal war of sorts with the driver of the car that believes you just stole his spot.

Now enter the mall doors where it's filled with busy shoppers rushing around with packages from all kinds of store. Each store front has sales signs designed to entice the shoppers that they have exactly what you're looking for and at the lowest prices anywhere. It seems the goal is to buy as much as you can. Overhead music streams from the speakers overhead telling you that Santa Claus is Coming to town between banners wishing you a Happy Holiday and Season's Greetings!

In the center of the mall there is an elderly man with white beard and a red suit posing for pictures with children dressed in their very best. Another person is offering the parents the opportunity to purchase those pictures. Babies are crying and it generally seems most people are too busy to even smile at a passing stranger. So just what kind of meaning really lies behind Christmas? Even the clerks and cashiers keep asking each person, "Are YOU ready for Christmas yet?"

I am passing along a poem I found today in an email I receive that should explain what it really means. I hope you enjoy it.

“Ready for Christmas,” she said with a sigh
As she gave a last touch to the gifts piled high…
Then wearily sat for a moment and read,
Til soon, very soon, she was nodding her head.
Then quietly spoke a voice in her dream,
“Ready for Christmas, what do you mean?”
She woke with a start and a cry of despair.
“There’s so little time and I’ve still to prepare.
Oh, Father! Forgive me, I see what You mean!
To be ready means more than a house swept clean.
Yes, more than the giving of gifts and a tree.
It’s the heart swept clean that He wanted to see,
A heart that is free from bitterness and sin.”
So be ready for Christmas - and ready for Him.

So as you can see, the real meaning behind Christmas should be more about the stuff we need to do and instead reflect on the gift God bestowed upon us all that Christmas so long ago. He gave the ultimate gift. The gift of His son, through His salvation, we receive an eternal life earned merely by the grace of God alone and not by anything we do. Wishing all of you a very Merry Christmas!

By the way, in keeping with the theme of Susan's Photo Challenge for Day 7, " A Wreath With A Red Bow," this is my wreath own our front door, wishing you all a Merry Christmas!