Christmas Past, Present and Future.

Another Christmas Season has passed! And what a Season! Such snow!

It took my mind back to the great snowfall of 1946 and the Christmas of that year. I was five years old and living with my parents and my maternal grandmother in her small terraced house in Tydfil Street, Barry.  Money was short and rationing was in operation, but nevertheless, Christmas was still a wonderful time for this little boy!

Over the years I have received many presents which I have loved and appreciated but the one that stays forever in my memory is my beloved London Bus! I can still see it so vividly, standing there in the early Christmas Morning, gleaming in its fresh coat of red paint. Carved by my dad with loving care, it looked wonderful – and it moved so easily on its washer wheels! How many night hours after a long day in work had gone into its making!

Children today are given so many expensive sophisticated toys but few children anywhere receive anything to compare with my London Bus! Why is that, I wonder? At the time I only knew that I loved it! Looking back as an adult I believe that I know the reason. It was a sacrificial gift that was an expression of my father’s unconditional love for me. More than that! There was also something of himself in his gift. What other gift could compare with that?

Now, as a Christian, I am a child of God. Every Christmas I rejoice in God the Father’s “indescribable Gift” of His only begotten Son. Here is the Gift that is an expression of His unconditional love. When I look to Calvary I behold the sacrificial nature of this Gift. There is so much of the Giver in the Gift. Jesus said, “I and the Father are One.” Jesus also said, “For God so loved the world that He gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”

For every gift there must be a giver. And there should be someone who receives the gift willingly and gladly! With what delight I accepted my earthly father’s Christmas gift as a small boy. With what greater joy I received my Heavenly Father’s Christmas Gift. It was announced by an angel: “For unto you is born this day, in the city of David, a Saviour, Who is Christ the Lord.”

 If you have not yet accepted this wonderful gift for yourself, then why not do so now?

Rev. Stan Vart.