Tuesday, December 6, 2022
Abril Perez
It’s the Holiday Season
Scripture: John 1:10-13 (NIV)
“He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.”
Devotion: The holiday season is upon us, and with that brings festivities in various forms. What a time! A time to be with family and friends, a time to share your love and well wishes. A time for food, companionship, and the best part (for the little ones) …. Gifts. I LOVE giving gifts, and watching their eye light up is just beautiful and heartwarming.
My earliest memory of Christmas was a year when we did not have much. But what I remember is waking up to find a ballerina barbie with my name on it and a large bag of M&Ms to be shared amongst the family. This was BC (before Christ) times circa the late ’90s. I say BC times because I wasn’t born into the church like many of you. It wasn’t until my father found Christ that we really started going to church, and I must have been around 5-6 years old. After that, Christ has been a staple for our family. Advent is a big part of my spiritual journey. Hispanics have a tradition called Posada. In Mexico, it’s a weeklong event. Here in the states, we minimized it to a day. We dressed up and walked from one place to the church: donkey and all. People came from the woodworks to see these “strange” people singing hymns in the streets and asking for lodging and ultimately arriving at a church to “see” the birth of Christ. Every year it got bigger and bigger, and we even made it into the Star-Telegram. It was pretty cool. Reflecting on those experiences, people must have thought we were strange or crazy for walking the streets in the freezing cold only to end up at a little run-down church to praise the Lord for the greatest gift. The holiday season has been commercialized so much that we often forget what’s important. We believe in Christ, who came into the world, sacrificed his life for ours, and leads and guides us with the Holy Spirit on our way.
Prayer: May the Lord hold our families close to us and keep our traditions alive to continue our efforts of making disciples for Christ as children of God. Amen.
AΩ
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