A Pure And Simple Christmas

"For God so loved the world that He GAVE his one and only son" John 3:16

"It's starting to feel a lot like Christmas", "I'm dreaming of a white Christmas", and "Walking in a winter wonderland" The songs of the season...that make us have that "Christmas feeling", that spirit we so love.
This Christmas season seemed different to me and I thought I was the only one. It occurred to me that I am not alone in this when I started to realize that most everywhere I went people were saying, "This year I just can't seem to get into the spirit of Christmas." I can't tell you one time where I heard people saying anything different.

I was in my shed just recently looking for more Christmas decor and wrapping paper to get 'in the spirit' and move this season along when I came across one of my more unique decorations. This wall sign that says ,"PURE & SIMPLE" and it has a little wooden symbol of Jesus in the middle with a wreath he is sleeping on. This sign is just as it states, 'pure & simply' made as well. Finding this got me thinking about the many people, including myself that are not feeling very Christmasy this year and I was very humbled as I looked at this sign and really pondered what pure and what simple means and how this can apply to this season and my life. In our world today everything has become the opposite of those two words. Our culture has complicated the message of the word Christmas, and has defiled the pure name of Jesus. The world today, and sadly enough, the church as well has confused the simple message and gospel of Christ and complicated it and the message of God's gift that we used to proudly sing the famous good old fashioned song,"Go tell it on the mountain, over the hills and everywhere, go tell it on the mountain that JESUS CHRIST IS BORN!"

So the lesson to me this season is to come to this with a pure and simple heart. The definition of pure: "Without any extraneous and unnecessary elements", in other words, I don't need to clutter my life and this season with a lot of activity and hoopla! Also the word simple is defined as, "Easily understood or done, presenting no difficulty." This to me means just what it says, keeping the message of God's gift, his one and only son to the world (simple)  and by having this outlook on the celebration of my Savior's birth makes for a peaceful and joyful season.

Have a Pure & Simple Christmas!