Did you get what you wished for this Christmas? Did you pray for what you needed? Did you pray for your family and the families of your friends and neighbors? Did you pray for all who have lost everything? Did you pray for all of our first responders and all of the medical personnel who have put you first and not themselves? Did you pray for America to put God first again in our lives? Did you pray for the wisdom to understand our differences or are you still fighting for your own rights, regardless of how that action affects people of different races, colors, creeds, and religions?
Jesus Christ pulled His own cross up to Golgatha so that we would learn selflessness, not divisiveness. Because God is with us, we can stop worrying about ourselves. We can start helping others as we would want to be helped. His answers may not always be in the forms we desire, but they will be just as loving or even more powerful than what we prayed for.
God gave us exactly what we needed in giving us His only Son, the Christ child. Love came into our darkness and shone forth in Bethlehem. The heavens proclaimed the joy we need, and the angels sang, “Glory to God in the highest.” Share in the wonder of the Christ child and feel the radiant smile of a young mother, Mary. Jesus Immanuel is what she called her Son. Jesus will never leave us, and His love is everlasting and free. He is within and among us, giving us the peace to move forward on our paths. God has given us His only Son so that we would know we are not alone. Praise to you, O Lord, for preparing an eternal home for all of us who receive Your Son into our hearts.
Are your prayers selfish or selfless? Did you get what you wished for or what you wanted this Christmas? My prayers were answered; I received the Christ child. In a world of division, He is all I need to feel whole.
Anna Hartt
