CHRISTMAS MORNING

It is a little before 8:00 am. It is quiet at my house. This Christmas only our adult son Christopher has been able to join us. We have family coming around 12:30 as we host the Dunn Family Christmas, but those preparations are pretty much in place. It doesn't take that long for three adults to read the Christmas story, open presents, and eat breakfast. Since there are no little folks coaxing my family to get up--our Christmas morning celebration will probably wait until 9:30 (when I will coast the other two to get up so we can get on with our family Christmas.

For a pastor, after the hustle and bustle and intensity of Christmas Eve with its special services and a very special message to prepare--Christmas morning is almost anticlimactic. There's nothing really to do--no church projects to tackle, no meetings to attend, no sermons to prepare, etc. Just a morning of heavenly peace to embrace and to enjoy. And when they finally get up--you can have quality time with your family.

For me--the unscheduled, peaceful morning and an opportunity to spend time with my family is a wonderful gift. It is second only to another gift, for which we celebrate this day:

"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son ..."

MERRY CHRISTMAS!