Christmas Reflections~

Christmas Reflections

The Joy of Giving

Somehow not only for Christmas
But all the long year through,
The joy that you give to others,
Is the joy that comes back to you.
And the more you spend in
blessing
The poor and lonely and sad,
The more of your heart's
possessing,
Returns to make you glad

A Lasting Christmas

I keep a part of Christmas
For it helps to add a glow,
To the January darkness
And the February snow,
If March is cold and blustery
and though April brings us rain,
The peace and warmth of
Christmas
With its happiness remain...
There's a beauty when it's
Christmas
All the world is different then,
There's no place for petty hatred
In the hearts and minds of men.
That is why my heart is happy
And my mind can hold a dream,
For I keep a part of Christmas
With its peace and joy supreme.

Christmas Prayer
for You

That you may hold forever
in your heart
the golden memories
of every happy Christmas
Day
you have ever known.

That you may be brave in the
hours of trial when the cross
is laid upon your shoulders,
when the hill you must climb
seems very high
and the beacon lights of hope
are far away.

That every gift God has
given you
may grow with the years
and fill the hearts
of those you love with its
fragrance.

That in every hour
you may have a friend worthy
of your friendship
to whom you can confidently
reach a hand when the storm
breaks,
with whom you can ford the
torrent
and reach the sun-kissed
heights.

A Christmas Prayer

Oh Lord, this is a season of light,
of
Bethlehem candles burning,
of menorahs aglow.
Help me to bask in that light.
In that full radiance
help me to see
My brother
as he really is:
Your child, needful of me.
Help me to sustain that recognition
of Him -- of Thee --
as the seasons turn
and the night sky, once more,
Is aburst with the brilliance of Your
birth.

The Miracle of
Christmas

The wonderment
in a small child's eyes,
The ageless awe
in the Christmas skies...
The nameless joy
that fills the air,
The throngs that kneel
in praise and prayer...
There are the things
that make us know
and men may go,
But none will
ever find a way
To banish Christ
from Christmas Day...

For with each child
there's born again
A Mystery that baffles men.

Hark now the sound of the
Most
High Holiest of Voices~

"You honor Me on this sacred night,
when you bathe the world in a forgiving
light
in remembrance of One whose holy birth
has instilled the prayers for Peace on
Earth.
of what rewards your journey may bring,
when a merciful hand relieves suffering.

For I am with you in the air that you
breathe,
in a Spring's first rain, in the autumn
leaves,
in a sunrise, a sunset, an evening's
demise,
in the loss of a loved one, or a
newborn's sigh.

Know, too, that my love endures without
end
as the binding warmth of a constant
friend,
for I am the keeper of inextinguishable
stars,
and indisputable Master of all that you
are.

So, spread your love and your
Christmas pleasures,
and know that My guidance and love
will be
with you tonight as~
My Ambassador."

(And may we all hearken unto that
Voice, and please Him in all we say
and do, as we are indeed, His
representatives, here on earth.)
Susan Martin

A New Year's Prayer

Dear Lord, please give me...
A few friends who understand me
and
yet remain my friends
A work to do which has real value,
without which
the world would feel the poorer...
A mind unafraid to travel, even
though
the trail be not blazed
An understanding heart...
A sense of humor.
Time for quiet, silent meditation.
A feeling of the presence of God.
And the patience to wait for the
coming
of these things,
with the wisdom to know them when
they come.

Time of Enchantment

On Christmas Eve, the story says,
an enchantment falls upon the earth.

It is a time when the Spirit of a
newborn Child whose name is
Love,
possesses the world. The way to
Christmas lies through an ancient
gate, patterned after a sheepfold and
guarded by angels with star dust in
their hair. It is a little gate,
child-high, child-wide, and there is
a
password: Peace on earth to men of
good will. May you, this Christmas,
become as a little child again and
enter into His kingdom.

Ready for Christmas

"Ready for Christmas," she said with a
sigh
As she gave a last touch to the gifts
piled high.
Then wearily sat for a moment to read
Till soon, very soon, she was nodding
her head.
Then quietly spoke a voice in her dream,
"Ready for Christmas, what do you
mean?
Ready for Christmas when only last
week
You wouldn't acknowledge your friend
on the street?
Ready for Christmas while holding a
grudge?
Perhaps you'd better let God be the
judge."
She woke with a start and a cry of
despair,
"There's so little time and I've still to
prepare.
Oh Father! Forgive me, I see what you
mean!
To be ready means more than a house
swept clean.
Yes, more than the giving of gifts and a
tree.
It's the heart swept clean that He
wanted to see,
A heart that is free from bitterness and
sin.
So be ready for Christmas--and ready
for Him."

It Was That Night
when a matchless star stood
glowing in the
East, trailing a man, a woman, a
burdened
beast.

It was that incredible night
when an innkeeper became the
first to say:
"I have no room for You this
day."

It was that incomparable night
when Gabriel came ecstatic to
the earth,
proclaiming glad tidings of a
royal birth.

It was that immortal night when
a caring
God reached gently down to lay,
His supreme gift, Love, upon the
hay.