Is Santa real? they might ask someday. Well, perhaps not as you think. But there once was a man who loved us so much that he came to where we live. He arrived on his visit in the middle of the night and most of the world went without knowing what had happened until he left again. We don’t know if the red suit is real, but we know what he looks like. His coming sparks a new spirit in each of us.

Image via CC - Kevin Dooley

Image via CC – Kevin Dooley

Yes, my children. There is a man who visits every person in the whole world in one night. He comes from “up north” to where we live and when we wake to this reality, our world will change. He brings a bit of his reality with him and leaves it in the living room. There is too much goodness in the place he calls home and he delights to share it with us. He packs up what he can and then asks us to look beyond the packaging and the ribbons to see it.

Once these gifts fall into your heart and not just into your hands, you will find that you cannot wait to unwrap these things because the joy is multiplied when you share it with someone else. You practically give it away. And yet, find yourself with more, just as this man will return home and take the whole world with him.

[box] “The Word became flesh and blood and moved into the neighborhood.”
John 1:14, The Message[/box]

Someone is coming to town, my friends. Tonight. He sneaks in, not by chimney but by a quiet entrance through the barn or the garage. He comes not with a big sack of toys, but with gifts of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. And if we’re willing, we can wake to a home full of gifts with every new morning.