It's about God's love for us and our love for one another...

For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.  Luke 2:11

Happy Holidays...Jesus is the reason for the season...Merry ChristmaHanukkwanzaa...It all comes back to love; God's love for us and our love for one another.
I had a Jewish Rabbi on Thursday's noon news last week to talk about Hanukkah and what it means to the Jewish faith.  I shared with him that my 4 year old drew a picture of a Menorah in class and that afternoon, when I picked her up, she asked me if we celebrated Hanukkah.  I told her no; that people of the Jewish faith did and that their beliefs were different from ours.  I ended that conversation by saying, "but God created us all and even though we have different beliefs, we should still love our Jewish friends. " It's about love.
I've been teaching the Purpose Driven Life as a Sunday School class at my church, New Dimensions Ministries.  The first thing Rick Warren points out, in the book, is the fact that "it's not about me".  The premise is that in order to find our purpose and live a life of purpose, we have to truly get that it's not about us; it's about God.  Realizing what we were created to do and be and finding our purpose depends on us believing and living as if it's not about us.  The second thing that we're to get is that God loves us. 
I bring that up because the idea that "it's not about us" gets lost so easily during this holiday season of gift buying/giving, party hosting/attending, vacations, family gatherings; new year planning, etc.  We forget that it's about God and the birth of his son Jesus.  The rest is nice and fun and special, and at this point, difficult to get away from.  But, what I want Grace to know about Christmas is that we celebrate the birth of Jesus because God loved us enough to give us a Savior.
She has a speech for our Christmas eve service this Wednesday, and it's so appropriate for this moment:

We're bringing Christmas lights
To shine both far and near
To take away the darness
And bring happiness and cheer

I believe that light is Jesus.  I believe it shines in us.  I believe we are called to spread that light to those walking in darkness.
It's not about us; it's about God and the love he has for us!

EXPECT MORE THAN YOU COULD EVER THINK OR IMAGINE!