Christmas At Home

It is a couple of weeks until Christmas and I sit thinking about mama and daddy.
They have spent the last several Christmases at home with Jesus. I often wonder what they are doing. I am sure heaven is not perpetual church going, or at least I hope it’s not. I can’t think of Christmas without thinking of heaven. They are connected you know. Our greatest gift came from heaven. Some people would say Jesus home town was Bethlehem or Nazareth, but I know better. His home town was His Father’s House and that was out of this world. Christmas has never been the same since mom and dad went home. I am a bit sad about it, but I am also grateful because as a family we took great joy in celebrating this special day. My children are not coming home this Christmas, but that’s alright, they have families of their own and they will celebrate with the same great joy.

As time marches on, many of us are separated from our families by distance and jobs that keep us apart, but for me the urge to go home at Christmas never leaves. This year, God willing, I will experience my seventieth Christmas. Of course a few of them I don’t remember, but many of them were special. On the heels of World War II I lived in a rundown farm house. Some people would have called us poor, but then they didn’t know the meaning of rich. Rich was spending Christmas with family. Rich was fruit and chocolate, pies, cakes and a feast usually in the middle of the afternoon. One Christmas stands alone in its impact on my life. It is the one when my father made toys with his own hands for my brother and me. A wagon, toy trucks and one store bought train that went in a small circle. Christmas is about giving and his love for two little boys compelled him to find a way to put something under the tree.

It all reminds me of why Jesus left home and came to this earth. It was His love compelling him to give us what we needed most. We needed forgiveness from our sins and a way to come home. He gave us a present, not under a tree but on a tree. He took our place in the dark, dungeon of separation from the Father. He went to the tree for me so I could one day go home for a real Christmas. Home to Father’s house where all the family will be there, and the celebration will last forever. Who knows, we may have Christmas next year at Home. You will love meeting mom and dad.