the Reason for the season

My brother and I have reached that age where we don’t ask our parents for anything at Christmas anymore. Yet for the past few years, Christmas has been as full and joyful as I can ever remember. Of course, I don’t even remember last Christmas. But I do remember an extended period in my life when the entire holiday season was overcast with a dark cloud. 
Gift giving is a wonderful way to show love. Few things give as much pleasure as seeing your loved one’s face light up as they unwrap a carefully thought out present. (Or in the case of my dad, as they scowl because he seriously thought a farmer’s almanac would be a fantastic gift.) But it still misses the point of Christmas.

So does spending time with your loved ones.

Yes, we should focus more on friends and family than on the gifts, but even that view isn’t quite on point. The essence of Christmas is that the greatest gift we ever received was not something or someones, but Someone. All those Christmases ago, Mary and Joseph, the wise men, the shepherds, they weren’t celebrating because they were happy to be with each other. They were celebrating because they were with the One. The One that was going to set us free. The One that left a perfect heavenly dwelling to enter a broken world. On that night, they weren’t focusing on one another— they were fixated on baby Jesus.
Remember the Reason for the season. It’s not presents. It’s also not about just any presence. It’s about God’s presence.

The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of deep darkness a great light has dawned. -Isaiah 9:2