Christmas Archives - Jackie M. Johnson

What is Christmas Really About?

Christmas is where it all began,
An infant child who became a man.
Eternity came down so we could understand,
The child of Creator, the true Son of Man.

He was not unexpected, for the prophets foretold
The events that had happened would surely unfold.
Four hundred years later the miracle came,
The star over Bethlehem shone where He lay.

They came to attend Him from near and from far,
The shepherds and wise men who followed the star.
All were rejoicing that first Christmas night,
At the child of a virgin, a humbling sight.

So, what is the meaning of that first Christmas night?
Simply, He came to make everything right.
For the Child had a purpose in coming to Earth.
He came as a light and to give us new birth.

He gave us forgiveness and paid with His life.
What kind of love would pay such a price?
For death could not hold Him; He rose from that grave.
And freedom and life were the gifts that He gave.

No longer divided, no longer alone,
Because of His love the wall had come down.
Live free forever! O, what a gift!
Both now here on earth and forever with Him.

Wise men and angels followed Him then.
Wise men still seek Him, again and again.

— Jackie M. Johnson

Photo; A. Vonlanthen, unsplash

By Jackie M. Johnson

Single Over the Holidays: 3 Great Ways to Find Joy!

Ah, the holidays!

It’s the time of year when singles are more intensely aware of their singleness.

If you’re unmarried, most likely you’ve had to dodge that perennial question from prying relatives or friends at holiday gatherings:

“So, why are you still single?”

Or, maybe you’ve had to deal with the office holiday party dilemma when you don’t have a date, and the “plus one” on the e-vite blinks at you like tree lights gone awry.

For some singles, the Christmas season tends to exaggerate feelings that have been simmering all year long.

It’s a time to connect with loved ones and you feel anything but connected. Suddenly everyone around you seems to have a significant other or spouse and you feel so very solo.

Solitary. Alone.

Then there’s the sting when a pastor closes the Christmas Eve service with an admonishment to “Go and spend time with your families.”

Yeah, thanks, but I don’t have one.

Of course, some people have their family of origin—their parents and siblings—with whom they gather for the holidays.

But for others the cost to travel home for the holiday is simply unaffordable. Or, they don’t get along with some of their family members.

I get it.

It’s not always easy to see happy couples kissing under the mistletoe or walking arm in arm down a snowy sidewalk—laughing all the way—to who knows where.

So how can you enjoy, not just endure the Christmas season?

Here are three (3) great ways to consider to find more JOY in the season:

1. Change your perspective. If you are feeling lonely or blue, try to refocus attention away from self and onto the Savior. Ask him to lighten your mood.

You may feel sad or other emotions—and you have a right to your feelings. But don’t set up camp there; don’t stay there. Feel the pain, ask God to heal your heart, and then move forward allowing God to heal you in His timing.

Indeed, changes may not happen overnight. Surely, there is a time to grieve or feel miserable. But there is also a time to wipe away the tears, put on your coat, and go build new Christmas memories.

Oftentimes, the joy returns and new hope arises.

2. Find “family” where you can if yours is not available. My single friend Denise has often hosted a Christmas Day dinner for singles who have no place to go for the holiday. Or, have a gathering with friends and celebrate the season together.

3. Give and serve others. Doing things for others will bring JOY, not only to the people you help, but also to you!

Sharing a smile or a hello with your coffee barista or the clerk at the dry cleaning counter can make a difference. Some folks I know go to a local nursing home to sing Christmas carols or go to a local soup kitchen to serve food and spend time with those who are often forgotten.

3. Most importantly, draw near to the reason for the season: Jesus Christ. Reflect on the true meaning of Christmas and why we celebrate.

Remember the true story of the Christ child, the Son of God, who came to save the world and teach us how to love and have a better life. (Read Matthew 1 or Luke 2.)

Discover the love that changes everything. And you just may be amazed at what happens.

Instead of bemoaning your current state of singleness you can make new choices.

May God invade your heart with JOY—at Christmas and all the year through.

Merry Christmas!

By Jackie M. Johnson

How to Let Christmas Change Your Life Every Day

If you haven’t yet discovered author and artist Ruth Chou Simons, you are in for a treat. Enjoy this Christmas excerpt from her book, “Emmanuel: An Invitation to Prepare Him Room at Christmas and Always.”

If the idea of Immanuel—God with us—blows your mind, it should.

But more stunning than even the birth of Christ is the mystery of the Savior’s presence forever with us, wherever we go, through the Spirit.

God with us wasn’t one event on Christmas Day, or one lifetime in the 33 years that Jesus walked the earth. God with us is forevermore in the lives of those who receive Him as Savior and King.

Do you see how God’s promise of rescue far outshines a candlelight service or a season of festivities? When we prepare Him room at Christmas, we make room for a lifetime in His presence.

Jesus doesn’t want our partial attention during the month of December, He wants our hearts every day of every year.

He wants us to be transformed.

So ask we seek to celebrate Christ’s birth this season, let’s start by celebrating the new birth granted to us when we trust in Him.

We can truly live a transformed life.

***

Ruth Chou Simons is a Wall Street Journal bestselling and award-winning author of several books, including GraceLaced, Beholding and Becoming, and When Strivings Cease. She is an artist, entrepreneur, and speaker, using each of these platforms to spiritually sow the Word of God into people’s hearts. Simons shares her journey of God’s grace intersecting daily life with word and art. Ruth and her husband, Troy, are grateful parents to six boys—their greatest adventure.

Photo by Ales Krivec on Unsplash

By Jackie M. Johnson

The Wonder of Christmas: Experience His Love Anew

Imagine a night with a million stars in the sky.

It is cold and dark. You are a young shepherd sitting on a hillside tending the flock. It is quiet, except for the occasional bleating of the sheep. And a few words with your fellow shepherds.

It is an ordinary night.

Then suddenly, a bright light bursts open the darkness! And there’s an angel.

An angel!

And the angel is speaking to you in your own language. What would you do?

Here’s the true story:

And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified.

But the angel said to them,

‘Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.’

Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,

“Glory to God in the highest heaven,
and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.”

When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, ‘Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.

So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger.

When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them.

But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. –Luke 2:8-19

Long ago, ordinary shepherds were astonished that an angel had chosen them to hear the extraordinary good news:

He’s here!

He came! Just like the prophets of old said He would hundreds of years before. Messiah. Jesus Christ. Deliverer has come!

What else could they do but go to see—and fall on their knees in awe and worship.

And now, we celebrate again the wonder of night Christ was born.

And we, too, fall on our knees and worship in awe.

Grateful for the Love that changed everything.

God loved the people of this world so much

that he gave his only Son,

so that everyone who has faith in him

will have eternal life and never really die.

John 3:16 (CEV)

For more Christmas and Advent posts by Jackie M. Johnson:

Preparing Your Heart for Christmas (Part 1)

Preparing Your Heart for Christmas (Part 2)

Preparing Your Heart for Christmas (Part 3)

Photo credit: Kailash Kumar, pexels

By Jackie M. Johnson

PREPARING YOUR HEART FOR CHRISTMAS (WEEK 3) Awe + Wonder

Welcome to week 3 of the series, “Preparing Your Heart for Christmas.” Our Advent journey continues as we look to the Christmas story and our response to it.

The Advent season is a “holy awakening” of sorts.

Take a moment—away from the noise and clutter and demands of the season—to look anew at all that Christmas means, and let it change you all year through.

First, let’s read the Christmas story, about the birth of Jesus, in Luke 2:1-20. Then read inspiring words about God’s peace and love—and our response in awe and wonder.

The Birth of Jesus
In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. (This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria.) And everyone went to their own town to register.

So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child.

While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them.

And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified.

But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”

Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,

“Glory to God in the highest heaven,
and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.”

When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.”

So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them.

But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart.

The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.

Wow! What a beautiful story of Jesus coming to earth in such a humble way. For you. For me.

And the baby Jesus grew up.

And taught us how to love each other, and how to live forgiven and free. And how to have a relationship with Him so we could be with God forever in Heaven. Forever.

To help you reflect on this amazing gift, here are a few inspiring excerpts for preparing our hearts for Christmas—by remembering God’s peace and love, and then being moved in our response in awe and wonder. Because of His love, we are forever changed.

(Excerpts from Ruth Chou Simons’ book, Emmanuel.)

PEACE
Peace on earth…the peace we all say we want at Christmas, and year ‘round, is a gift that comes through trusting Jesus to provide what we cannot. True peace with God is the good news of the gospel, but continuing peace of mind—the peace that surpasses understanding—is the byproduct of trusting God through prayer and thanksgiving.

LOVE
As we continue in this Advent season…we encounter a love that is greater than any…love is the character of God, and this is the love that changes everything for a believer.

When the love of God, cradled in a lowly manger, becomes our greatest gift of the Christmas season and throughout the year, we can’t help buy lavish such love onto others…and declare His love with our actions before a watching world.

AWE + WONDER.

The miracle of Christmas is this: that a holy God made a way for all who believe to come to Him…by first coming to us.

Let that sink in.

God’s promises, fulfilled by God Himself, are more than remarkable; they merit a response—not to get busy, but to fall down in reverence and awe for our great God.

PONDER
What stirs up awe and wonder in your soul?

PRAYER
Father, You are worthy of our praise.
When we consider Your faithfulness
through the works of Your hands,
through the gift of Your Son, and
through the ways You care for us day by day,
we’re humbled and we remember once again:
You are God and we are not.
Lord, forgive us for the ways we try to steal Your glory
and trust in ourselves. You draw near to us each day
and put on display the ways
You are still sovereign and good.
May we give You the adoration and praise You deserve—
not just this Christmas season, but each and every day.
Amen.

Resources from Jackie M. Johnson

If you are feeling lonely this holiday season.

If you are dealing with a loss or tragedy.

If you are feeling discouraged or down, and need to get your joy back.

If you need to find peace.

–Excerpts from Emmanuel: An Invitation to Prepare Him Room at Christmas and Always. By Ruth Chou Simons
(Harvest House Publishers, 2022)

Photo credit: Alain Gehri, Unsplash

By Jackie M. Johnson

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