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Traditions link us to our heritage and connect us to the future. They remind us where we came from and the people who’ve helped shape us.Traditions are gifts we give our children and grandchildren coming after us – an unspoken connection to future generations. They also remind us God is faithful. In the Old Testament, the Israelites would build monuments (an ‘ebenezer’) to teach younger generations about God and His saving actions for His people.
Christmas traditions can be strong reminders of God’s faithfulness. One tradition our family loves is reading the Christmas story. On Christmas morning, with only the light from the Christmas tree, we sit together and listen to the account of the birth of Jesus from the Gospel of Luke. Little boys sit in our laps, and big boys sit close as Kellett reads the story from long ago.
We’ve all heard the story many times, but I need to hear it again this year...next year...and the year after that. You see, I seldom forget the trappings of another season, but sometimes I forget that I really need my Savior.
Traditions remind me what matters. Jesus came, because I wouldn’t come to Him. Jesus saves, even though I’ve tried to save myself.
I hope as we gather this year under the tree, we remember again God’s kind gift of His Son...our Savior. ~ Adrea Thomas
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Mine is more of a praise/story than a new idea...it is very much like the Thomas' tradition...I trust it will be a blessing!
My first Christmas in the Atlanta church in 1995 was the first one of my 25 years of life (at that time) that was not with "family". BUT, because God is SO kind, He arranged Christmas with our new church family. So many of us were transplants that many of us were without "family".
There was good food and fellowship, Scrabble, and the reading of the Christmas story. We (my first husband, Tony, and I)had been told we would read the Christmas story at the end of our time together. So, the time came and our host called everyone together. He told us that everyone who could read would read a sentence then pass it on to the next person. ("How cute!") And then he opened up the Bible.
Oh! THAT Christmas story!
You see, we were only 1-1/2 years old in the Lord! We had never had a Christian Christmas!
Needless to say, I cried through most of the reading. =D I was so in awe!
I wasn't even pregnant yet then...that would be months later. But as we drove home Tony said "THAT is what I want our Christmas tradition to be! That is what I want our kids to know as Christmas."
I'm so sad to say Brianna and I have never quite managed to pull that off, not sitting quietly around the Christmas tree, just the two of us...although we always read it one way or the other, it has never had that element of "awe".
BUT, like I said...God is SO kind...Two months ago I asked David and Brianna to think about what they would like us to do for our family Christmas traditions and let's discuss our ideas. David, My Beloved, came back and said "I would like us to read the Gospel account of the Christmas story..."
And yes, I started crying! =D The 10 years I was a widow I always worried that Brianna was missing out on so many things...but God is always so faithful to show me that "For the Lord your God has blessed you in all the work of your hands. He knows your going through this great wilderness. These [10] years the Lord your God has been with you. You have lacked nothing.” Deuteronomy 2:7
I pray each of you is in awe of Christ and His gift to you this Christmas!
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