It was baptismal Sunday in our church. I belong to a traditional church where infant baptism is the practice, and there were three children of varying stages of infancy brought to the Lord that day.

Following the celebration of baptism, the parents of one young boy, about one-and-a-half years old, joined with some friends to provide the musical interlude while the offering was being taken. I can't remember the song they sang, just the theme, which was how God is our Shepherd Who cares for us and will pick us up when we come to Him.

During the singing of this piece the young lad wanted to be with his mother, so he left his grandma's care where they were sitting in the next-to-front pew, and toddled to the steps leading to the platform. After standing and watching for a bit, he climbed the stairs. His mother was singing a solo part at that time. She just bent down, picked him up and continued singing.

What a beautiful illustration of how God, with all that He does, will take the time to pick us up when we need Him and come to Him!

Prayer: We thank You, Father, that You love us and look out for us, that, without words, You know when we need You, and that You are there to pick us up and carry us in Your loving arms. Help us to come to You in our time of need. Amen.

We visited a church in Florida on a Sunday morning; it was a busy, friendly church with about forty to fifty in attendance. The congregation was made up mainly of older folk, with a sprinkling of middle-aged ones, and about four families with children. We were warmly greeted and asked if we knew others visiting from Canada.

It was on a Sunday early in Advent, and the service was about an "Advent Attitude". So often we go through this season of the year with an attitude of "Let's get all this rush over with"; or "I really don't have time to do anything for others"; or "how will I meet all the demands on me?" Instead, in the sermon, an attitude of expectancy and love was espoused, especially "a rebounding, redounding, resounding love".

What is this kind of love? It is the kind of love that has us put others before ourselves. It is the kind of love that makes others feel special. It is the kind of love demonstrated in the gift of God's Son to us at Christmas.

As we go through the Christmas season, pray that we will know this kind of love, for both giving and receiving, remembering that the greatest gift has already come to us in the manger in Bethlehem. Ask God to give us an attitude of love, of "rebounding, redounding, and resounding love", that shows in our attitude towards others.

Prayer: Lord, help us to know Your love, love that rebounds, redounds, and resounds, as we look forward to celebrating the greatest expression of love, the gift of Your Son. Help us also to show this love in our attitude towards others this Christmas season. Amen.

Many of us are aware of the hype that this has received from companies wanting to help us to discover our origins and to connect us to relatives that we may previously have known nothing about. We get half of our mother's DNA and half of our father's DNA, and our siblings each get the same amount, but not the exact same bits or characteristics. That is why we are encouraged to have everyone in the family tested.

All the things that are pushed by the companies are well and good, and people are finding new relatives and new places of origin for their families, but I have come to realize that there is a lot more to me and my family than DNA.

Psalm 139:1,4,13-14,16b – O Lord, you have searched me and known me. Even before a word is on my tongue, O Lord, you know it completely. For it was you who formed my inward parts; you knit me together in my mother's womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; that I know very well. In your book were written all the days that were formed for me, when none of them as yet existed. (NRSV)

What David tells us is that life is much more than DNA; it is much more than family; it is much more than religion; it is God Who has known our end from our beginning.

In this psalm, David is praising God and telling Him that he realizes that it does not matter where he went, what he thought, or what trouble he got into, God already knew and was there ahead of him, even to the extent that He was there when David was created and grew.

What do you take from this? Are you able to acknowledge, as David did, that God knows you — your thoughts, your actions, your desires — and He is there with you at all times and in all places? After all, it is in Him that we live and move and have our being.

Prayer: Lord, we thank You that You made us, You know us, and You are with us wherever we are and in whatever we do. Help us, Lord, to remember this as we go about our day-to-day busy-ness. Thank You. Amen.

The messages spoke to me:

"Jesus thinks you're special!" "God loves you!" "God made you special!"

Then these Scripture verses came to mind:

Jeremiah 31:3b – I have loved you with an everlasting love. (NKJV)

Matthew 11:28 – Come unto me … and I will give you rest. (KJV)

Isaiah 43:1 – I have redeemed you; I have called you by your name; you are Mine! (NKJV)

What can be more important as we come to the "day of love" than to remember the greatest love of all, that of our heavenly Father, Who gave us the greatest gift of all: His only Son?

John 15:13 – Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one's life for his friends. (NKJV)

And all that He asks of us is, "Be Mine!"

Prayer: Lord, help us to recognize that there is no love greater than Yours and that You want us to have it. May we accept this gift of love and learn how to give it to others in Your name. Thank You for everything. Amen.

So, in what I wrote back to my friend, I mentioned, "Maybe it is time to marry Christmas into all the other things going on in life."

That got me thinking: How do we marry Christmas into all the other things going on in life? I guess that depends on what the deepest meanings of Christmas are, and how they can be applied to all of our lives. How could we have Christmas all year long?

It's all about giving: gifts, time, energy, love. Love? Whose love? My love? God's love? Ah … it was God's love that started Christmas, was it not?

John 3:16 – For God so loved the world that He gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him shall have everlasting life. (NKJV)

It was God's love for each one of us that led Him to give His only Son. It was that Son's love for us that led Him to give His life for each one of us so that we could have everlasting life. It is God's love that draws us to Him. It is God's love that forgives our sins when we repent. It is God's love that motivates us to forgive others for their sins against us. Through His love poured out within us by His Holy Spirit, we can reach out to others with those gifts of time, energy, and love. And that is how we can marry Christmas with all the other things going on in life.

Prayer: Lord, we thank You for the love that You have shown us. Through showing us Your love, You have taught us how to love. Help us, Lord, to continually show Your love and to marry Christmas with everything we do all year round. In Jesus' name, we pray. Amen.

Matthew 11:28 – Come to me, all you who are wearied and burdened, and I will give you rest. (NIV)

Rest sounds wonderful, doesn't it? No one likes being wearied and burdened, but we are — burdened with worry, burdened with guilt, burdened with illness, burdened with responsibility. We all know about being burdened, and burdens are like packages — big packages that are often more than we can handle — packages that trying to carry makes us weary, tired, and lacking energy. We all know what that is like: being too tired to make a meal, to go to a meeting, or to go out to visit someone. It seems to me that the longer I live, the more there is to do. You'd think that it should be possible to cross things off a list and not have something else move in to take its place!

But there are so many of us who like our feelings of weariness and being burdened — aren't there? They can be an excuse to hibernate, or to stop working with a group, or to quit a committee. "No, I don't think that I will go out today; they can get along without me."

You know, it is so easy to concentrate on the description of the first "you" in today's passage, and to forget Jesus' "me" and "I". But in this passage, which is addressed to all of us, Christ is speaking to each one of us directly: "Come to me and I will give …"

Action is needed on our part: we can be weary, and we can be burdened, but that is not to stop us from making the first move: to come to Him. And if we do, what do we get? We get the gift of rest. Do we … do you … do I … have enough trust that we will go to the One Who spoke these words and accept His gift? Or do we go to Christ, take His gift, and keep right on being weary and burdened, because we don't want to leave it all up to Him? I pray that you do better than I when it comes to accepting God's gift of rest.

Prayer: We come, Lord, with our weariness and burdens. Help us to leave them with You and to accept the gift You offer: rest. Help us to relax and enjoy our lives and not be off in our minds at the next item on our agenda. Thank You for time spent with friends. Thank You for that gift of rest. Amen.

What is it about this Christmas season that makes me feel very "un-Christmas-y"? Perhaps it is the fact that family is not nearby, or the lack of snow on the ground, with rain coming down instead of snow. Or is it the health problems that won't let me eat Christmas goodies, or rushing about trying to get everything done before the holidays descend on me? I just know that I don't feel very "Christmas-y".

But then, what is a "Christmas-y" feeling, anyway? Some people find that Christmas music on the radio or CD helps. Or perhaps we need Christmas plays and pageants and outings. How about the Christmas trees and the decorations we put up in our homes and see on the lampposts and in the stores? Then there are the big parades for the season. Or is it that surge of joy we get when the right gift is found for someone that starts up the feeling that Christmas is coming?

No, although these may all be part of the equation, I think that feeling "Christmas-y" must be more than these. Perhaps it comes from taking the time to "be still, and know that I am God" (Psalm 46:10a KJV), and to remember that once, a long time ago, a Babe was born in Bethlehem who was God, come to us in the flesh, to live with human beings and to show us the way to Himself. It is the joy that comes from knowing that God has invaded our dreary lives with hope of life eternal, to initiate a relationship with Him that will go on forever. Rushing and bustling have been my lot for the past two weeks, and I need to take the time (not find it, but take it) to spend in worship, at home, on my own, to remember the reason we celebrate Christmas. Then I will feel more like it is Christmas again … a joyful time of the year!

Perhaps I need to listen more carefully as I hear and read the words spoken by the angels to the shepherds:

Luke 2:10b-11 – Behold I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. (KJV)

Prayer: Lord God, may we know the reason for this season in a personal, thoughtful way. Grant us the joy of the Christmas season as we celebrate Christ's birth, in our own ways. Amen.