Maybe you have told yourself – “If I had been there at Bethlehem that night, I would have seen, I would have understood and I would have known it was the Christ-Child in the manger.” Are you sure?
There is one way of knowing: Ask yourself what you are seeing and hearing THIS Christmas Season?
When you watched the 6:00 pm news, did you see chaos and strife over COVID-19 and inflation or did you see sheep without a shepherd, the Good Shepherd? When you went out to do your Christmas shopping, did you see only hordes of people in the stores, or did you notice the worried expressions on some of their faces, because the prices were so high and they did not have enough money to buy even the food they needed?
What are you hearing this Christmas?
Do you hear only the blast of music and carols, or do you hear the silent sighs of the lonely and the bereaved who may be dreading Christmas because it accentuates their loneliness and the loss of a loved one? And in the midst of the sounds of honking horns do you hear faint sounds of laughter coming from the homes of the poor because YOU furnished food and toys for families with children?
So often what you see and what you hear is not dependent upon the event, BUT UPON YOU. If you did in fact hear the cry from the lonely, the laughter of poor children, and if you saw the sheep without a shepherd, then, and only then, might you have noticed the events that took place in Bethlehem that night.
If you lacked that spiritual seeing and hearing, then you probably would have been with the 99% who were present at Bethlehem, but who saw or heard nothing out of the ordinary.
When YOU hear the Christmas Carol, “Do You See What I See?” What goes on in YOUR mind and heart?
IT IS CHRISTMAS EVERY TIME YOU LET GOD LOVE OTHERS THROUGH YOU!
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