Small Made Significant by His Love... Give Thanks and be Merry!

The holidays are nearly upon us.  Thanksgiving is in a couple weeks, and Christmas is only a month and a half away.  I look forward to the holiday season for multiple reasons.  One reason is that it is a time for family.  Our culture stills retains some idea of family time during the holidays, even if it is centered around a television screen watching football.  And being back in the States, I feel even closer to my family.  This holiday season feels promising.

I'm excited to have my sister back from college for a whole month.  I can't wait to sit around a groaning table, laden with delicious food, and listening to the laughter of my family as they regale us with tales.  I'm ready for gift-giving.  As I have grown, I've realized that Christmas is more enjoyable when you are giving, not receiving.  I love the excited faces of my siblings opening a gift that I strove to wrap well.  (It normally just looks like a wad of paper and tape.  But, it's the effort that counts, right?)

With all of this to look forward to, I'm most excited about remembering why we celebrate and why we give thanks.  These grand celebrations that we look forward to every year should remind us of what God has
given and is giving us.  It's amazing what He has blessed us with.

If you're ever driving through the countryside, pull over.  Open the door.  Step out.  Look up.  Be amazed.  Stagger.  You're small.  You can hardly breathe.  How can we get so caught up in our own little worlds, that we forget how immense this universe is?  How can we be so important?  We tore this universe apart when we sinned.


Yet God still somehow loves us.  Beyond imagining.  He gave us the ultimate reason to give thanks, and the most incredible gift ever.  Christ.  His Son.  He gave us  a chance to live with Him in eternity.  This.  Among so many other reasons, are why we should give thanks.  The Father still sees us as the jewel of His creation, even if we were shattered into a thousand pieces.  That doesn't mean a thing to Him.  He gave the Gift to take the punishment we deserved for rending the fellowship we had with Him.  So be merry!  Rejoice!  Give thanks!  Immanuel has come!