Celebrating the One

As we prepare for the Christmas season, let us be careful not to forget the One we celebrate. Let us keep our focus on Christ and the gifts He gives everyday. Listed below are some suggestions to help display His love to one another, and readings to set our minds on things above.


 1.  Pray as a family for each other and another family.  Luke 1:26-27
 2.  Have a family night of ice skating.  Luke 1:28-30
 3.  Decorate your Christmas tree.  Luke 1:31-32a
 4.  Have a family Christmas movie night with treats.  Luke 1:32b-33
 5.  Perform a "Random Act of Kindness" today.  Luke 1:38
 6.  Make Christmas cards or write letters to family and friends.  Matthew 1:20-21, 24
 7.  Take donations to local Food Bank.  Isaiah 7:14 & Matthew 1:22-23
 8.  Pray as a family for your co-workers and classmates.  Luke 2:1
 9.  Make and hang edible gifts for birds and squirrels.  Luke 2:3-5
10. Make a Christmas treat and deliver to a friend.  Luke 2:6-7
11. Have a family dance night with Christmas music.  Luke 2:8-10
12. Have hot cocoa and cookies with your neighbors.  Luke 2:11-12
13. Leave notes of encouragement around the house.  Luke 2:13-14
14. Make a list of your Christmas wishes for others.  Luke 2:15
15. Pray as a family for your church.  Luke 2:16
16. Wrap Christmas gifts for family and friends.  Luke 2:17-19
17. Have a family bowling night.  Luke 2:20
18. Go Christmas caroling in your neighborhood.  Matthew 2:1
19. Make cookies for a public servant.  Matthew 2:2
20. Have a special lunch with your family.  Matthew 2:9b-10
21. Have a family game night.  Matthew 2:11a
22. Pray as a family for your state and country.  Matthew 2:11b
23. View Christmas lights around town.  John 3:16
24. Bake a birthday cake for Jesus.  Galatians 4:4-5
25. Read the Christmas story together as a family.  Luke 2:1-20

True Love

God is love. 1 John 4:16
Can we truly understand this love? We are made in His image, but I wonder if our flesh doesn’t keep us from fully grasping the measure of this love. Meditate on these:

“In your unfailing love You will lead the people you have redeemed. In your strength You will guide them to your holy dwelling.” Exodus 15:13

“Know therefore that the Lord your God is God; He is the faithful God, keeping His covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love Him and keep his commands.” Deuteronomy 7:9

“Your love, O Lord, reaches to the heavens, Your faithfulness to the skies.” Psalm 36:5

“For great is Your love toward me; You have delivered me from the depths of the grave.” Psalm 86:13

“For You created my inmost being; You knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise You because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from You when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, Your eyes saw my unformed body. All my days ordained for me were written in Your book before one of them came to be.” Psalm 139:13-16

“For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” Jeremiah 29:11

“The Lord your God is with you, He is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, He will quiet you with his love, He will rejoice over you with singing.” Zephaniah 3:17

“For God so loved the world that He gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.” John 3:16

“But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Romans 5:8

“Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails.” 1 Corinthians 13:4-8

“For He chose us in Him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in His sight. In love He predestined us to be adopted as His sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with His pleasure and will.” Ephesians 1:4-5