Merry Christmas

GENESIS 1:1-5, 26-27

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was formless and empty, and darkness covered the deep waters. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters. Then God said, "Let there be light," and there was light. And God saw that the light was good. Then He separated the light from the darkness. God called the light "day" and the darkness "night." ... God said, "Let Us make human beings in Our image, to be like Us. They will reign over the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, the livestock, all the wild animals on the earth, and the small animals that scurry along the ground." So God created human beings in His own image. In the image of God He created them; male and female He created them.

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In the beginning is when the greatest story ever told begins.

The story of Christmas begins in the beginning—because Christmas is about Jesus and Jesus' love, which has been looking to hold you close since the very beginning of time.

Jesus was before time, His voice hovering over the depths of the darkness like a mother eagle hovers over her young. Jesus was there when the voice of God breathed wonder into the darkness: "Let there be light..."

And just the sound of God's voice made light dance into being, all brightness shattering the dark.

"Let there be land." And at the music of His voice, mountains roared and raised up through the oceans. And God said, "Let there be living plants, and let there be lights in the heavens, and let there be living beasts."

And at the wonder of His voice, leaves unfurled and stars spun happy and elephants trumpeted praise.

But what about when God dreamed up the very best at the very last? God did not say, "Let there be..." as He had for everything else. When He dreamed of a face like yours, His voice filled with the gentlest love, and He smiled. "Let Us make human beings..."

God the Father gathered close with God the Son, Jesus Christ, and God the Holy Spirit, and all the glory of the Trinity gathered close when They imagined the masterpiece of you. And God in three persons scooped a handful of dust together and knelt down, and together They kissed warm life into God's children with the breath of His love.

The whole world was made by God's word. But God's children alone were made by all of God's love. You were formed by a huddle of holy hearts.

You are made of both the dust of this earth and the happiness of highest heaven. You are made of both flesh and spirit, and you are made of two worlds longing forever with Jesus.

No matter what happens in the world, the truth is always this: you were formed by Love... for love.

You were formed to have front-row seats to waves hugging the shore, to trees touching the sky, to stars falling across the night—the whole of the universe falling in love with God.

Your eyes were formed to be awed by the art of every wonder-laced snowflake and the carving of every swirl of frost and the sculpting of every cresting snowdrift. And then to see it—God's own signature in the corner of everything. God the artist who imagined and made the masterpiece of this world. Your mind was formed to be wowed by God. Wowed by His uncontainable, unending, unconditional, unbeatable, unfailing, unwrappable love.

You could unwrap the wow today just by going to the window. By going to the front door, to the park, to the backyard, or to the top of the highest hill you can find—standing there and staring and being wowed by the shape of the clouds or the colour of the sky or the size of the sun when you hold up your hands. You could unwrap the wow right now.

And the greatest gift we can give back to our great God is to let His love make us glad.

The whole blue marble of the world spins happy right now with the gladness of His love.

Unwrapping the Greatest Gift, Ann Voskamp

Christmas joy to you and yours.

Love, Sandi, Tim and Huffy the Hedgehog