What's Your Christmas Wish List

“Do you hear what I hear?” Christmas carols are playing on the radio and in the malls. For some it is the most wonderful time of the year. Maybe you felt you were run over by a reindeer only the decorated Bambi is driving a Mac truck. Some of you are waiting for jolly old St Nicholas to grant to you your three page wish list. Still others are trying to climb out from under the hippopotamus that surprised them last year.
Whatever your feeling this yuletide, there are certain longings that well up inside you and return each year as regularly as Old Faithful. These desires may be as simple as wanting your two front teeth or they can empty the bank account as you fanaticize over jewelry from Tiffany’s. You may want to be home for Christmas, but the thought of uncle Harry getting drunk and mother lying in a snowbank because of too much holiday cheer, sends cold chills up your back and the thought of such a family gathering gives you a wintery frosty feeling that shows in the icicles dripping from your nose. 
Some desires are wrapped with a bow. Others may take several trips of Santa coming to town to deliver the elaborate gift you are sure you deserve because you have been a good little boy (or girl).
You may find yourself huddling in pain. For you, this season comes way too often and you long for it to be gone. You tighten your fist as the Salvation Army collectors jingle bells and your heart tightens as you try to make sense of your unemployment.
December 24’s silent night has been preceded by weeks of noiselessness as you sit alone in isolation. Divorce, death or tragic loss is amplified as the songs tell you to gather around a festive table. Instead reality beats upon you like the Grinch that stole Christmas. You would rather drown your sorrows in a bottle of cheap Christmas cheer than to tell the inquisitive aunts you are okay when you are not.
I enjoy Christmas and my desires may be different than what you experience. I would rather have my family gathered around me than to have a multitude of presents. I love watching joy spread across their faces as my children and grandchildren unwrap their gifts from us.
For our family we usually push away from the table feeling very much like our late dearly departed turkey, STUFFED. Yet the food is not what ties us together for we would rather have peanut butter sandwiches eaten with joy than to gorge ourselves on a lavish abundant feast if the conversation was filled with bitterness and strife.
I long for the day when across our planet all the yellow ribbons could come down as our troops would all be home for Christmas with peace and good will reigning on earth. No more war, no more suffering, no more pain.
I desire for the true meaning of Christmas to be celebrated in every home. Instead of commercial lights and festive decorations, I wish for each home to celebrate Jesus, the Christ. Immanuel, God with us, came as a baby and was laid away in a manger. The birth of this Baby changed everything and now we can be reconciled to God through His forgiveness.
I hunger for people to experience the wonderful life that comes with our sins and selfish ambitions forgiven because of the great sacrificial gift Jesus gave. He willingly paid the ultimate price, His voluntary death, so we could be forgiven and adopted by an almighty, loving God.
There is a burning in my spirit for all of mankind to know how vast, high and great God’s love is towards them. This burning desire that stirs my heart is for this to not just be a head knowledge but a reality as we embrace God. The God who sent His One and only Son to the humblest of Jewish peasants. The Son who made His grand entrance in a barn, wrapped in strips of ragged cloth and placed in a feeding trough as a cradle. Jesus came as the humblest so He could reach ALL of the human race. He came for me ... and you.
No matter what is under the tree, on the table, or who you are snuggling up beside I hope this Christmas is when your true longings are fulfilled in Jesus.
Have a Blessed and Wonderful Christmas.