I have a hard time believing that it’s almost Christmas. Having lived in Northwestern Ontario, for the past 17 years I’ve always had a white Christmas. No snow in sight here in Taiwan! Sledding parties, frosty air, getting all bundled up any time I went out, hot chocolate, ice skating, and lots of snow are all things that to me have been synonymous with the Christmas season. Besides drinking the hot chocolate I won’t be experiencing any of those things this year. 70 degree weather just isn’t very frosty! Another thing that always went along with Christmas was lots of time spent with my family. This year they’re on the other side of the world. It just wasn’t feeling like Christmas to me. Until…I started focusing on what Christmas was really about.
I’ve come to see Christmas as a sacrifice of love. “The Word (Jesus) became flesh and dwelt among us” (John 1:14). Christ left all that he had in order to demonstrate to us God’s amazing love. And so I will not be doing many of the things that I normally do at Christmas time I can still experience Christ’s love. In fact his sacrifice means more to me this Christmas than it ever has. As I go into “my” schools here in Taiwan my prayer has been that God’s love would flow through me to the students and teachers. I pray that they will begin to see that Christmas really isn’t about a tree, or Santa Claus, or presents or just a holiday that “foreigners” celebrate, but that it’s about a love and a gift that is unchanging.
May each of you experience and know Christ’s love in a new and deeper way this Christmas season.
Katrina – Hualian, Taiwan
