Because this quote of the week by Billy Graham is so long, I will try to paraphrase it here.

"When Mary and Joseph needed a place for the Child to be born, the innkeeper wasn't hostile; but his inn was crowded, and his mind was preoccupied, like millions are today, as Christmas nears."

"Instead of making the Christ Child the focal point of Christmas, people's minds and hearts are taken up, to the overflowing, by other crowding interests. Their response is not atheism, nor is it defiance. It is preoccupation, and the feeling of being able to get on reasonably well without Christianity."

When I saw this week's quote, I didn't even have to think whether to write on it. For years I've felt that the way we do Christmas is out of focus, far removed from what we say we're celebrating.

I don't mean to come across like a modern day Judas, complaining that precious perfume should not be used to anoint Jesus' feet. I understand that families create traditions about Christmas by hanging certain stockings, or decorating a particular way, and serving certain foods down through the years, and this creates beautiful and bonding memories for them.

I recall special occasions at Christmas. A son managed to get a key to my apartment, so he could set up a tree for me. I was so surprised about it that it was a few moments before I realized he needed family to be around a tree together more than I did. One Christmas season a daughter showed up at my door, holding a box of ornaments. I will never forget how firmly she said, "Mom, get your coat, we're going to get you a Christmas tree." Another time, some of my children figured out a way to get me a new typewriter. Was that ever a surprize! An older daughter, knowing one year was probably one of the worst ever for me, sent me Christmas in a box, gifts to open, homemade goodies, and a handwritten letter so filled with caring and love.

But as beautiful as all those times were, in comparison to the Christ Child's love, our human effort to show it, pales. Do we emphasize gift giving, sometimes to extreme, to fill up the emptiness of not holding Baby Jesus at Christmas?


If that's all we do to celebrate His birth, if that's what we teach our children Christmas is about, we short change them in their relationship with Him. We teach them that material things are more important, more valuable, than holding the Baby Jesus, who became our Lord.


If we don't make time and space to at least remember what we're commemorating, if we barely acknowledge whose Birthday we say we're celebrating, then all of our efforts, no matter how noble, don't mean much, and leave us not a lot different than the ancient Romans, who indulged their flesh and food appetites, but didn't let Christ feed their souls.

I am not against profit making in the marketplace at Christmas time, but the gift giving part of it has grown so huge, it has replaced the meaning of Christmas. It has become many people's holiday God.

Again, I want to say I'm not opposed to giving gifts. I love surprising someone with something special, and it's nice sometimes, to receive a present, but don't you think it's all out of proportion, when stores set up Chrismas displays before Halloween's even done. I saw a holiday add in the news today that said something like, "While you're choosing gifts for others, make yourself feel better, get one for you."

Christmas has become so stressful that medical organizations post helpful ideas on how to deal with it. Depression is prevalent this time of year, as is suicide. We crowd our time and energy and minds with a too long list of things to do. Many get gifts for their pets. Stores have long aisles of things for them. Again, at the risk of sounding like a modern day Judas complaining about the cost, wouldn't it spread more of Christ's love to feed a poor hungry human, if only one meal, than to buy something cute for an animal.

Often, for whatever reason, people accept too many invitations to social events, some of which they don't really want to go to anyway. Isn't that a little hypocritical, when it leaves us too worn out or short on time to be with family?


We need to understand that it's not that Christ needs us to draw close to Him, but He, in his magnificent love for us, wants us to experience being so loved.

Even if you don't attend church, when was the last time you walked after a light snowfall, and sensed its freshness, and the crunch of it beneath your feet? When were you not in such a hurry to bake cookies that you savored the aroma coming from the oven, and wrapped a few in a little container, and took them to someone who can no longer bake, like they used to. When you light Christmas candles, do you stop a moment to smell their fragrance, do you think about all that God has made for us, or are you so caught up in the doings of the season, that you just hurry to get it all done.

You will be amazed at how quickly we all grow old. When you reach that point, when memories are almost all you have left to hold onto, wouldn't it be so good, if along the way you'd made and kept a few, and taken time to hold the Baby Jesus in your heart, so it would be so natural to say: "Jesus, how I need You to hold me."