In this time of the year, we are swept up by the cacophony of voices calling out for our attention.  It is very easy to become so busy preparing for Christmas, that we miss the purpose of Christmas.

In The Christmas Charlie Brown television show we are told the meaning of Christmas,” For behold, I bring unto you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the City of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.’ And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God, and saying, ‘Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.'”

So many only see Christmastime as a time when merchants sell their wares. It is true that many gifts are purchased and exchanged, however, is this all Christmas has become? Do you not sense a difference this time of the year? People seem nicer to one another. There is a feeling of Christmas in the air. City sidewalks are brightly colored and filled with hope. Hope cannot come from nothing: there has to be something behind the hope. I believe Jesus is the hope we all sense. At Christmas we celebrate the birth of Emmanuel, God with us. When we think of babies, our thoughts also are directed towards their mothers.

Mary, the mother of Jesus, was engaged to Joseph. Her life seemed to be on the average track of any other girl in the neighborhood. Mary was probably very excited about the soon coming wedding. There were no bride magazines back then, but I imagine she was thinking of other weddings she had either attended or heard about as she planned her own. Can you imagine for one moment Mary’s life after the visit of the angel telling her about her soon coming pregnancy?

When Mary was told of things to come by the angel, Mary said, “Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word. And the angel departed from her.”

The Bible describes Mary pondering the things she had been told in her heart. Mary, the mother of Jesus, would suffer as her son suffered. There was great rejoicing in Mary’s life as well when Jesus arose from the grave and came and met with her and the disciples. Everything Mary pondered came true. We serve a God who knows the end from the beginning. Perhaps God has told you of wondrous things to come: ponder them in your heart.

This Christmas have a Mary Christmas. Remember that God can use you to accomplish great things. Sometimes great things are acknowledging the person begging for money on the side of the road. Helping feeding the homeless is pretty amazing. Giving coats you no longer wear can be a great thing to a person with no coat facing a freezing night.

 I was hungered, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in: naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me.  Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungered, and fed thee? Or thirsty, and gave thee drink?  When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? Or naked, and clothed thee? Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee?  And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.

Mary Christmas.