Vander's Thoughts

Vander's Thoughts

Wednesday, December 21, 2011

Man-made

I just got back from a great time In Lake Tahoe with my entire family to celebrate Christmas. It was a week early, but the busy lives we live and the miles that separate us all, cause us to work our schedules out this way. Unfortunately we were planning for a little more White Christmas than we got, but we made the best of it and created many great memories for years to come.

One of the plans we had was for all of us to going skiing or snowboarding, but the only option at the slopes was Man-made snow. You can choose your side on this debate, but once snow is packed I really can’t tell the difference and after a day of snowboarding neither can my quadriceps. Don’t get me wrong, nothing compares to fresh powder brought down from the heavens and shredding it on a snowboard (Sorry skiers I jumped onto one board years ago and I’m not going back anytime soon). However, this gets me to the point about the Christmas season that we are all celebrating today because there are two realities at Christmas, the Man-made and the Heavenly.

The true meaning of Christmas came down from heaven in the form of the incarnate baby Jesus Christ. He lived the perfect life to show us what life with the Father can truly be like. And then gave up his life to allow us the privilege to live our life to the fullest with God’s guidance. And ever since the first Christmas, man has been attempting his Man-made efforts to celebrate this truth and it’s gotten us farther and farther away from the real Heavenly reality. Now every where we look we see the evidence of Christmas, but it’s getting harder and harder to see the difference between the Man-made and the true Heavenly.

There is only one true meaning of Christmas and The Grinch, Scrooge, and Clark Griswold may have gotten close, but they didn’t truly discovery it because it’s not just being nice to our fellow man or giving gifts with sincerity. The true meaning of Christmas will radically change your entire life and can never be duplicated in Man-made efforts. The true meaning of Christmas is the celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ and the gift of life He brings. You can never be fulfilled with the Man-made efforts because they don’t really change anything, but can only mimic what only God can do.

“Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!” - 2 Corinthians 9:15

May the true meaning of Christmas bring the joy of fresh powder to your lives today and throughout the New Year.

Merry Christmas!