Christmas Eve

Here’s another devotional thought from Pam Cope, founder of Touch a Life. (Jantsen’s Gift 303-304) 

“But then, a few days later, I received a letter from Tommy Drinnen, who works at the Village of Hope (ed: Village of Hope is an orphanage in Ghana that is home to first children rescued off of Lake Volta by Touch a Life). He was writing to tell me about a young girl named Salamatu. She’s in second grade and had come to the Village of Hope after being orphaned. As Tommy explained, she is the type of girl who can hide no emotion. Every time something good happens to her, she jumps up and down with excitement. Well, she had received some stickers in the mail as a gift from an American couple, and she was so excited that she ran around the grounds clapping and showing everyone her gift. She wanted to write the couple a thank-you letter, and after she did, she took every single sticker that she had received and plastered them on the paper. She gave away her entire gift.

As I think about my life and everything I’ve faced since losing Jantsen (ed: Jantsen is the name of Pam’s son, who died suddenly of an aneurysm at age 16), I’ve come to understand that maybe Salamatu can teach us all a lesson. Maybe the answer to grief, or to feeling lost, is to do what she did: to give recklessly and passionately, to the point where people have to say, “You’re crazy! That is enough! Stop giving!” And yet we go on, and we give some more. I firmly believe that in those acts of giving—when you have given away your very last sticker—you become open to receiving life’s most tremendous blessings.”

This Christmas Eve let us give thanks for God’s greatest gift in Jesus Christ. Let us dedicate ourselves to sharing this gift with a waiting world. And let us anticipate with hope the gift that is yet to come. Lord, come quickly! Amen.

Additional Readings: Isaiah 9:2-7, Psalm 96, Titus 2:11-14, Luke 2:1-20

Light: The CHRIST candle

Read: The King of all kings, JSB p. 192 (Matthew 2) 

Ask: What are you going to give Jesus this year?

Pray: Ask for clarity as to how you might best serve God in 2016.

Jesse Tree Ornament: Wise Men

Act: Find a way to serve someone tomorrow. Let someone play with your new toy or gadget first. Serve someone food or drink, or clean up someone’s dishes.

Listen: Beautiful Star of Bethlehem