It’s so easy to step around or close an eye to those who joy seems to escape during the holiday seasons.  When things are quite alright in our lives, it’s understandable that we don’t want anything coming near the happy days we love so much.  So, those that cry easily, lost a loved one during this time in a past year, or are carrying burdens we can only imagine the depths of, fade into the background.

I sometimes wonder what was in the hearts of people twenty-one (or two or three or eight) hundred years ago.  How did they handle those with flatlined smiles, weighty circumstances or outstretched hands during Christmastime?  Maybe since television, the computer or even radio were not yet invented, it was easier to not see, hear or be touched those who would dim Christmas cheer.

Oh, but wait.  Twenty one (or two or three or eight) hundred years ago, Christmas wasn’t, yet.  It was, about to become.  What, then must it have been like without Christmas?  No Christ.  No New Testament.  No once and for all forgiveness.  None of Jesus’s miracles?  No finished work on the cross.  Can you imagine?  Just for a minute?  What life would be like without Christmas?

There are so very many reasons Jesus became one of us and walked the face of the earth He created.  He came to seek and save the lost (Luke 19:10), and to quench the thirst of the parched (John 4:10), just to name two.   Jesus walked with those: whose hearts were so heavy they could barely stand up, were so shamed they only came out when they would be seen by the fewest people, were kept out of places of worship because they were unclean, and considered themselves the worst of sinners.  Jesus saw, spoke to, and touched people.

Those who are called by His name are to see people too.  To do as He did, bring Christmas to those who may not have heard the reason for the birth of The Savior of The World, or who have such heavy hearts, that only a touch will do.

Merry Christmas to you my friends.  And, to those we see.